Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire for months now. Tuesday's strike in Beirut will further stir international fears of a wider regional war.
A masked demonstrator waves a flag of Hezbollah during a demonstration supporting the Palestinians in Beirut on Oct. 20, 2023.
In 1975, boiling tensions between the sects, along with an influx of predominantly Sunni Palestinian refugees, plunged the country into a 15-year-long civil war. Amid the fighting, Israeli forces twice invaded and occupied the south of Lebanon in order to combat Palestinian guerilla groups that had been launching attacks against Israel.
After Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and the end of the civil war in 1990, Hezbollah continued to grow in power. "For Hezbollah, their priority has always been to preserve its military role as a substate actor within the state of Lebanon," says Randa Slim, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute."Politics has always been used as a means to maintain its independent military status."
However, when it comes to domestic issues within Lebanon, Hezbollah is generally able to act autonomously."Over the years, the trust level between Hezbollah and Iran has become so high that when it comes to Lebanese domestic politics, Iran really lets Hezbollah play the leading role and does not get involved in their decision-making about intra Lebanese politics."Hezbollah's leader is the group's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah.
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