Know more about the Lebanon based militant group Hezbollah

New Delhi: Hezbollah, which means “Party of God,” was founded in Lebanon in 1982, many say by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, as a response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon.The group's aim is to destroy Israel and to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon.Hezbollah has also become a political force in Lebanon, with 14 delegates in the 128-seat national assembly. But its influence is far greater than numbers suggest.The group has been fighting with Israel for decades and has dug into Lebanon, intermingling with its government as well as its citizenry. Many Lebanese people see Hezbollah as a protector and a provider of social services, although it is classified by Israel and others around the world as an Islamic terrorist organization.It receives financial and political support from Iran and Syria, and its paramilitary wing is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. The governments of the U.S., Netherlands, Bahrain, Egypt, France, U.K., Australia, Canada, and Israel classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, in whole or in part.Hezbollah, which started with only a small militia, has grown to an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite television-station, and programs for social development.The organization has been called a state within a state.Hezbollah alongside with some other groups began the 2006–2008 Lebanese political protests in opposition to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.A later dispute over Hezbollah preservation of its telecoms network led to clashes and Hezbollah-led opposition fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods from Future Movement militiamen loyal to Fouad Siniora. Hezbollah receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran, and political support from Syria. Following the end of the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon in 2000, its military strength grew significantly.The group is believed to be responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israel, and for organizing the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that resulted in the deaths of 241 Americans.Between 1982 and 1986, there were 36 suicide attacks in Lebanon directed against American, French and Israelis forces by 41 individuals, killing 659.Hezbollah denies involvement in any attack, though it has been accused of some or all of these attacks.Despite a June 2008 certification by the United Nations that Israel had withdrawn from all Lebanese territory, in August, Lebanon's new Cabinet unanimously approved a draft policy statement which secures Hezbollah's existence as an armed organization and guarantees its right to “liberate or recover occupied lands”. The ideology of Hezbollah has been summarized as Shi'i radicalism. Hezbollah was largely formed with the aid of the Ayatollah Khomeini's followers in the early 1980s in order to spread Islamic revolution and follows a distinct version of Islamic Shi'a ideology (Valiyat al-faqih or Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists) developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the “Islamic Revolution” in Iran.Although Hezbollah originally aimed to transform Lebanon into a formal Faqihi Islamic republic, this goal has been abandoned in favor of a more inclusive approach.As of 2010, the Israeli government believed Hezbollah had an arsenal of more than 15,000 long-range rockets stationed on its border with Lebanon. Some of these missiles were said to be capable of penetrating cities as far away as Eilat.The Israeli Ambassador to United States Michael Oren expressed deep concern with the revelation.The Syrian-Iranian backed Hizbullah poses a very serious threat to Israel...Hizbullah today now has four times as many rockets as it had during the 2006 Lebanon war. These rockets are longer-range. Every city in Israel is within range right now, including Eilat.The IDF has accused Hezbollah of storing these rockets beneath hospitals, schools, and civilian homes.Since 1992, the organisation has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, its Secretary-General.