Hezbollah
Hezbollah is one of Lebanon’s largest parties. It is viewed by many countries around the world as a terrorist organization. It possesses military, cultural, religious, social and political leverage in the country of Lebanon. It has a very well trained armed force who has been responsible for combat with Israel over the years. During the last war with Israel in the summer of 2006, not only did Hezzbollah come out of the conflict undefeated, but they fought back fiercely and caused tremendous casualties on the Israeli side. Hezbollah is present through a number of non-government organizations that provide health, educational, housing, and technical services for reconstruction, a television and a radio station. In essence, they pretty much control much of the country they are present in, Lebanon.
Even though Islamic religious people that command the party, they are not of a high rank. Hezbollah enjoys the support of a large number of prominent Shiite memebers, most notably the religious leader of the Shiite community. Since the last elections in Lebanon, it has become a major political player on the local scene. After 2000, Hezbollah enjoyed the command of the Shiite political representation through a very uneven alliance with the weak Beirut government.
Furthermore, it has become the main resistance movement against the state of Israel. Hezbollah enjoys a strong Lebanese Shiite backing. A very large majority of Lebanese Shiites today support Hezbollah and any attack against it would be interpreted as an attack against the Shiite community. So in essence, the government in Beirut is trapped and virtually holds no power in their own country! This organization has an alliance with the Iran and Syria.
