Hezbollah is an Islamic political and paramilitary organization based in Lebanon. The exact point of time when Hezbollah History started is a matter of debate among historians. It is commonly believed that Hezbollah was founded in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Although the movement started with only a small militia, it has gained significantly in strength since the turn of the century. Today it is an organization able to mobilize demonstrations of hundreds of thousands. Much of its membership is derived originally from the 1980’s coalition of Islamic Jihad. Today it has ties to Iran, Syria and other Arab nations as well. The United States and other countries define it as a terrorist organization. It is fiercely opposed in Israel.

In 1985, Hezbollah published a manifesto listing three main goals: “putting and end to any colonialist entity” in Lebanon; bringing the Phalangists to justice for “the crimes they [had] perpetrated,” and the establishment of an Islamic regime in Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s two centralized figures are Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader and Hassan Nasrallah, the senior political leader (Secretary-General).

The group is structured into three sub-organizations: Bayt al-Mal, Jihad al Binna and the IRSO (Islamic Resistance Support Organization). Financial support is gained from Iran, Syria and the donations of Lebanese Shi’a groups.

Hezbollah History is fraught with intense controversy. According to the United States Council on Foreign Relations, Hezbollah is responsible for five major terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Israel, including the 1983 suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Hezbollah is credited as one of the first Islamic resistant groups to use suicide bombing, assassination, and capturing as tactics against foreign solders in the Middle East. Yet during the Lebanon Civil War (1975-1990) it is said that Hezbollah never engaged in sectarian bloodletting or fought a major battle with the army during that fifteen year period.

The more recent Hezbollah History shows it evolving from a movement to an organization in which Hezbollah transformed from a revolutionary group into a political one. In 2005 Hezbollah won fourteen seats in Lebanon’s 128-member Parliament. In 2008, following the May takeover of West Beirut after a government-ordered shutdown of the group’s communication network, they were granted veto power in Lebanon’s parliament, then controlling eleven of the thirty seats in the cabinet. Some experts say however, the use of force by Hezbollah against Lebanese civilians during that conflict eroded some of the group’s credibility.

Hezbollah History is relatively recent but the jurors are still out on the verdict of “legitimacy”. Some governments consider the group’s violent acts as terrorism. Some regard them as resistance engaged in national defense. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Israel have officially listed Hezbollah, in at least some part, as a terrorist organization. Other countries disagree. Throughout most of the Arab and Muslim worlds, Hezbollah is referred to as a resistance movement. Although Hezbollah History is comparatively recent in the scheme of all things in the Middle East, it is also indicative of the issues that divide that entire region. Perhaps only time will give us a verdict.