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Lebanon’s Hizbullah—Conventional Political Party or Terrorist Group?
Hizbullah claims more than 200,000 Lebanese members, of which the majority is Shiite Muslim.* Do these members comprise a conventional political party or a group turned from a terrorist movement into a political party? Ahmad Nizar Hamzeh, professor of political science at American University in Beirut, in his book “In the Path of Hizbullah” (2004, Syracuse University Press), quotes Hizbullah as defining “itself both as a ‘struggle movement of faithful Lebanese who believe in Islam, resistance, and liberation of the land’ and as ‘one of the most prominent Lebanese political parties.’” As such, he asserts: “Hizbullah is first and foremost a jihadi movement that engages in politics, and not a political party that conducts jihad. Hizbullah is indeed an Islamic political party, but neither its leadership nor its organizational structure is equivalent to conventional secular parties such as those in the Western Democratic or socialist systems.” (p. 44) If not conventional, what IS Hizbullah’s leadership and organizational structure? How does Hizbullah get things done in Lebanon and abroad in places like Charlotte, North Carolina?** Hizbullah’s organizational structure is shaped like a hierarchical pyramid whose base coincides with the three predominantly Shiite territorial divisions of Lebanon’s governorates: Beirut, Beqaa (Biqa) and South Lebanon. Shiite clerics comprise the majority of the leadership apparatus of Hizbullah (the Shura Council) because clerics are “more knowledgeable about God’s Law and closer to the mood of Islam than average Muslims.” (p. 44) The chubby secretary general of the Shura Council is currently Sheik Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah who hasheld that position since first being elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1995. “Because the party’s electoral rules do not allow for a third term, the election of Nasrallah would not have happened had the supreme leader, [Iran’s] Ali Khamenei, not bent the rule as Wali al-Faqih and allowed Nasrallah to be elected for a third term in 1998 and a fourth termin 2001,” according to Hamzeh. (p. 48) Table 1 below depicts the organizational structure of Hizbullah, to the degree that it is known. Hamzeh provides a full explanation of each of its elements in his book, which is well worth reading. Note that Nasrallah as secretary general of the Shura Council reports to Khamenei, who is currently Islam’s Wali-al-Faqih. The following narrative focuses on the “Military and Security Apparatus” of Hizbullah’s organization.
Hizbullah leaders are secure only to the degree that the military and security apparatus keeps them free from harm. To make sure that happens, the military and security organs are under the direct control of the ruling Hizbullah clerics, specifically Secretary-General Nasrallah. Hamzeh notes that Hizbullah’s organizational structure is “extremely disciplined” and flexible as “reflected clearly in the ability of the party to move between the military and the political apparatus, depending on the circumstances.” (pp. 78-79). The military and security apparatus of Hizbullah is largely invisible so as to make it difficult for enemy penetration. What is known is that the two main organs comprise the apparatus: the 1) Islamic Resistance and the 2) Security Organ. 1. Hizbullah Islamic Resistance(Military) Two sections comprise Hizbullah’s Islamic Resistance: 1) the enforcement and recruitment section and 2) the combat section. The enforcement and recruitment section recruits fighter and then plows them with “ideological indoctrination that reinforces the party’s beliefs in wilayat al-faqih and the religious command to fight the enemies” (you and me). The combat section provides training in “martial arts, marksmanship, medical support, and weaponry. The outcome of training determines one’s position in one of the four organs of Hizbullah’s combat section: Four combat trainee destinations: a. Martyrs organ: Individuals who are willing to lead a suicide operation even when they are convinced that chances of escaping death are zero percent. b. Commandos or special forces organ: Elite fighters who have distinguished themselves in guerrilla warfare and may be trained in Islamic revolutionary training camps in Iran. (p. 72) c. Rocket launchers and fighters organ: Individuals with experience in operating all kinds of weapons, in particular, surface-to-surface or surface-to-air rockets and mortars. d. Regular fighters’ organ: Individuals who have sufficient skills to lead attacks but who are mainly in charge of surveillance, logistics, and medical support. (p. 71) The Islamic Resistance’s self-contained, semiautonomous, constantly moving collectivities are interspersed throughout the three Shiite regions of Lebanon. These groups do not communicate with one another, only upward through the hierarchy to the military operational headquarters, which is under the control of the party’s secretary general (Nasrallah). In this way, if one cell is compromised by the enemy, Hizbullah’s military organization remains secret and intact. Hamzeh writes: “Reportedly, Hizbullah’s military operational headquarters includes top-ranking officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Although the guards withdrew in the early 1990s, Secretary-General Nasrallah has made reference to their continued stay in some part s of Lebanon.” (p. 71) Who does Hizbullah recruit to fight in the Islamic Resistance military? Hamzeh notes that fighters are mostly civilians, including carpenters, farmers, workers, or students who are “instructed at times to join [their collectivities] to participate in fighting the enemy. To keep those operations secret and discrete, the military operational headquarters of Hizbullah does not inform its fighters about the nature of the operations or about their timing. Once the [collectivity] is assembled, the fighter[s] are instructed by one of Hizbullah’s military sector commanders about the nature of the operation.” (p. 72) How many Hizbullah fighters are there? Hamzeh estimates the number at between 5,000 and 20,000 active fighters. (p. 74) 2. Hizbullah Security Organ The Hizbullah Security organ is the most secret of all of Hizbullah’s structural units and is headed by a member who is experienced in security and intelligence matters and whose loyalty to the secretary-general and the Shura Council is unquestioned. (p. 72) Two sections comprise the Security Organ: 1) Party Security and 2) External Security. Party Security is “charged with internal security matters within the party and society at large, including preventing Hizbullah’s enemies from penetrating the party’s organization and to prevent dissension among party members.” (p. 72) This organ keeps files on all party members and anybody who approaches the group from the outside. Nasrallah has said, “Israel and the United States have made great efforts to penetrate our organizational structure through recruiting party members, promising them money, women, glory, and power positions.” But they [ Israel and the United States] were always confronted with rejection because, for Hizbullah’s members, there is a self-immunity resulting from faith, religion, and ideological commitment…Hizbullah is a group seeking the heavenly world, martyrdom and death, so the members cannot be easily drafted by the enemies.” (p. 73) External Security (also called Encounter Security) functions to “counter intelligence attempts by the party’s internal and external enemies who aim at penetrating the party’s structure.” (p. 73) Hizbullah has cells in many countries, including the U.S. and the Tri-Border Region of South America (junction of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay). According to an informative well-written new book by Tom Diaz and Barbara Newman (2005), titled “Lightning Out of Lebanon-Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil” (Ballantine Books, NY), “[Hizbullah] supporters are actively involved in criminal conspiracies in the following cities: Dearborn (MI), Charlotte (NC), New York City, Newark (NJ), Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Louisville, Houston, the Miami-Fort-Lauderdale metropolitan area, Los Angeles, Portland (OR), Atlanta, and Tampa.” (p. 229) The typical pattern is for Nasrallah’s External Security organ to send new Hizbullah operatives abroad to infiltrate legitimate expatriate Lebanese communities and support themselves through nonviolent criminal operations, such as cigarette smuggling between North Carolina and Michigan, built on the mercantile traditions of the Lebanese diaspora. (p. 70)
How many security personnel are there? Hamzeh estimates between 3,000 and 5,000 Hizbullah security personnel exist. (p. 74) How does one join Hizbullah? Hizbullah is both a mass (200,000 members) and a cadre party. Money to support the Hizbullah’s work comes mainly from Iran’s massive subvention (financial support) to the party and from wealthy members who follow the wilayat of Ali Khamenei. Each of the three main Shiite regions in Lebanon is divided into 20-25 sections. Each section includes tens of branches. Thus, Hizbullah members are organized into hundreds of small groups through which Lebanese Shiites can enter the party. Diaz and Newman’s book cited above describes in detail the entry of poor young Beirut slum-dwelling youth into Hizbullah.***
An individual can become a member of Hizbullah via the vertical or the horizontal method, according to Hamzeh. The vertical method involves entering through the local group after undergoing two stages of transformation. The first stage is reinforcement, which lasts at least one year and involves learning Hizbullah’s ideology and culture, accepting commands of the party’s leadership, and accepting martyrdom as the most important dimension of faith. The second stage is “ordered discipline,” which involves learning the party’s discipline, which is reinforced by physical exercise, military training, and some assignments. At the end of the second stage, the individual is assigned to serve either as a fighter in the Hizbullah Islamic Resistance, or to serve in the political and social units of the party. The vertical method is the most common way of joining Hizbullah. The horizontal method of joining Hizbullah involves permitting entry of individuals who have demonstrated religious faith and support of Hizbullah’s cause, and who have specialization needed by the party. Included in this group are medical doctors, engineers, university professors, and graduate students, especially ones with expertise in computers and the media. What is the socioeconomic status of Hizbullah members? Hamzeh reports from his field observations that Hizbullah’s amorphous mass consists of the “oppressed” poor Shiite peasants of South Lebanon and the Beqaa and the urban poor of Beirut. A second group comes from the traditional Shiite elements of the “petty bourgeoisie” (Hamzeh’s words) including shopkeepers, small landowners, professionals, teachers, and clerks who are “opposed to the dilution of Islamic ethos under the impact of foreign political, economic, and social penetration.” (p. 76) Editor’s Note: On March 9, 2005, photos splashed across major U.S. newspapers depicted thousands of pro-Syrian Lebanese demonstrators in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. These thousands of young Shiite Hizbullah program graduates were likely ordered and then accompanied by the young bearded and armed men dressed in black who combed the crowds and positioned themselves on rooftops in the role of Hizbullah security. The purpose of the demonstration was to counter the recent anti-Syrian protests led by Lebanese Druze, Christians and Sunnis. Always quick to step up to a microphone, Hizbullah Secretary-General Nasrallah thanked Syria for its sacrifices in Lebanon during the country's long civil war and warned the US and France, which have been exerting pressure for an immediate withdrawal of the 14,000 Syrian soldiers stationed in Lebanon since 1976, to stay out of the country's affairs. Hizbullah a conventional Lebanese political party? Not bloody likely. Sources: *The total population of Lebanon is 3.7 million. Estimate of Hizbullah’s number: p. 74, “In the Path of Hizbullah” by Ahmad Nizar Hamzeh. **For more background on Hizbullah, see Biot #174: “Khomeini: Godfather of Lebanon’s Hizbullah” at http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_174.html. *** Tom Diaz and Barbara Newman: “Lightning Out of Lebanon—Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil,” 2005, Ballantine Books, NY. |
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