Hezbollah is an Islamic organization that also operates as a political party in Lebanon. It receives support from Syria and Iran. This group is known as the Muslim world’s opposition movement; the group expressed conflicting views on how to free Palestine from Hamas. This organization also provides training, arms, and moral support to Palestinian militias fighting alongside Israel. This organization bases its activities in Germany, but its members are scattered across the world. The group has over 1000 members and periodically sends its military to support Syria’s war against the rebels. Hezbollah was formed after Israel’s 1982 invasion from a numerous number of Lebanese. At the time of formation, its main objective was to make widespread the revolution of Iran. The group did not make a public announcement about its existence until 1985.
Hezbollah is also known as a liberation of Palestine, the group of the oppressed, the revolution of justice, a group of right against wrong and are the followers of Prophet Muhammed. Hezbollah operates under the following ideologies. Narcoterrorism where they use international drug dealers operating with terrorists to finance their organization and maximize their wealth. Separatism, new regime Nationalists, and Ethnic Nationalist. This group believes they are being oppressed, discriminated or abused and therefore, attempt to dissociate themselves from the government they believe in oppressing them. They separate themselves from the ruling government and form their own territory, establish their land and rules. Separatism also is when they attempt to be religious, economically, and socially separated from the government. The group has established their own territory and own organized by drug cartels to finance their operations. They have illegal drug dealers in Columbia all for the purpose of separation (Azani, 2012).
Ideological source of Radical Islam- Religious (Islamic). Most of the Islamic groups are known to be radical, the prevalent Islamic categories are the Islamism, Salafism, and the Wahhabism. The moderate, the instructions and the jihadism. The group believes in Islamic extremism. Transnational crime and Terrorism. There is a complex interaction between terrorism and organized crimes, Hezbollah group is known as a both terrorist and organized criminals. They are using drugs tactics to arrive at various target places. Jihadist Terrorist Groups. Hezbollah is driven by Jihadism, the group redefined the conflict of a 21st century. Jihadist is an Islamic campaign that is inspired by Al- Qaeda. They are fighting and hiding under religious beliefs, they are saying they are fighting for their religion
Urban terrorism. Terrorism has become reality in many countries, the group Hijacks famous clubs shooting and killing thousands of people, take thousands of school children as hostages and brutally kill them in cold blood, they use poisonous gasses to kill and use of women as suicide bombers. They have attack big cities like New York, thus making terrorism a real threat internationally. Terrorism and Government Policy. Terrorism normally tries to go against the government policies, they want to command certain region and be independent economically. The U.S government and those of other powerful countries have been fighting with this group for a long time.
Third party combat as a tool for terrorism is also very common with the group.The group is recruiting young men to act as bodyguards, the new recruits are taken for training in the bush and used as third combat. The forces outs on face mask so it is hard to identify them through their faces. The forces who are recruited are brainwashed and made to believe the war they are fighting is genuine; towards the liberation of the oppressed and fighting for God. State sponsored terrorism also has been so rampant with the group. State sponsored terrorism are the terrorist group supported by one government to fight against another country. Hezbollah is supported by most of the Islamic states to fight against the Israel in Gaza.
This terrorist group is using different tactics to execute their plans, they change their tactics regularly. When one of their tactics is known by the government or those they are fighting together, they shift and employ new skills. Some of the tactics used by Hezbollah are Narcoterrorism, kidnapping of children and take them, hostage, use of women and girls as suicide bombers, identify and attack vulnerable cities (Col, 2006). Armed assault, they are transnational crime and terrorism, urban terrorism and assassinations. In addition, they are using drugs cartel to finance their operations and maximize wealth for the group, and third party combats as a tool of terrorism.
Hezbollah as a terrorist group had been involved in extreme violence, kidnapping of foreigners, hijacking airlines, suicide bombing and international targets in Lebanon throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, the group changed their operational behavior and incorporated acts of violence coupled with political participation. The group started a campaign aimed at hiding the terrorist identity and branding themselves as a Lebanon political party. They also convinced that their acts against Israel were meant for liberating Lebanon. Throughout the period, the group made the government of Lebanon to support its activities. The group had successfully used propaganda in the 1980s to transform themselves into a political and military force.
The terror organization is probably the largest, most wealthy and sophisticated in the world. The terror group is extending operations to Africa, Asia, and America. The strength of the terror group is well seen by the thousands of their fighters who have joined the Syrian war. Hezbollah is a much disciplined Islamic group and has remained a threat to Israel for many decades. The terror group’s open letter to Israel in 1985 clearly indicates its capabilities. The location of the terror group, north of Israel’s border is also of strategic importance and an advantage. Hezbollah has no nuclear weapons and it being a threat to countries that have nuclear weapons show that it is highly capable to operate and execute its activities. There are also high secrecy and confidentiality in the terror group as you go up the rank, this limits the amount of information that reaches the publics.
As a Military/political movement, the group operates under some goals which include ending foreign occupation and fighting against Israel together with ending it inhuman acts in Palestine, Lebanon and the rest of the world. To ensure that Israel is not invincible by becoming a voice of the Lebanese innocent citizens. Hezbollah aims to influence the politics and policies of Lebanon by participation to ensure the betterment of the region. The terror group has a goal of presenting a true picture of Islam, its logics and in accordance with today’s requirements. Hezbollah aims to work for the overall social, economic and political development of Lebanon through the vast fields of agriculture, health, education and offering services of charity in different ways.
The terrorist is targeting vulnerable cities as the soft target, they also use third party combats as a tool of terrorism. The group also uses propagandas to justify their attacks, when they attack certain cities, they release exaggerated videos to demonstrate to the world that they are capable of carrying out the major attack in any part of the world.
Since Terrorism is becoming the threat to international security, United Sates has to come up with policies to counter the terrorism activities around the world. The aim of the policies is to eliminate the terrorist activity globally and reduce their attacks on the civilian. The United States have developed the policies such as public diplomacy, use of secret services to identify the tactics used by the group. America also uses partnership programs, they provide training to the countries that are at the threat of terrorism activities, provide machinery and the equipment, and sometimes sending its military forces to fight the terrorists on their location. The current US policy on terrorism is that all the Muslims are banned from entering the US, the country also prevents the Columbians who are believed to be used by the terrorist to trade in drugs. Also, the US had to create another terrorist groups such as the ISIS as a rival group to Al Qaeda and Hezbollah.
Public diplomacy has been a successful terrorism combating policy too. Through this policy, there are channels for listening to the minds and hearts of people and winning them. That is easily achieved through public education and other foreign policy components. The policy also listens to the voice of the many Muslims and not only rely on Christians views on dealing with the issue. The US need a better and clear understanding of how Global Muslim Majorities view the world and to be specific, how the regard the Unites states. Through this, the United States is able to evaluate the views and opinions of the different persons and thereby using the result to draft good policies of dealing with terrorism and affiliated groups. The United States also has other policies to deal with terror groups like the Terrorist Interdiction Program [TIP] which used sophisticated computer database systems and communication to identify any potential terrorists. The US also fully utilizes a ‘Rewards for Justice” program in which persons/entities are paid for any information that prevents acts of terrorism.
This was an idea to reduce the powers and the dominance of the Al Qaeda groups in the Muslim states, the policy saw rising of another powerful group which dominates many parts of the Islamic states than the Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. Since the creation of ISIS the attacks from the AL Qaeda reduced significantly. Other policies include the treatment of the suspects, assessments of the U.S efforts against the criminals, Regional cooperation on terrorism. The United States have been targeting and executing the terrorists’ leaders to reduce their powers. This policy has been successful reducing the threat of terrorist (Graham, 2013). Homeland security and intelligence counter efforts have been improved to counter the effects of the group terrorism activities.
Due to the global security and threat of terrorism, the US department of homeland security ensures that public security is guaranteed. Its mission includes border security, immigration, and antiterrorism. This department was created after the September 11 attacks. There exist other departments in charge of homeland security like Department of Health and Human Services. Since the September 11 attack, the intelligence community has been the object of discussion and increased scrutiny. Inability to collect enough information has largely been attributed to as the cause of the attacks. On October 8, 2001, an executive order established Office of Homeland Security tasked with the responsibility of collecting and analyzing information related to terrorist threats in and out of the United States. It is at this point that the United States also thought of creating an intelligence service that can access information gathered by the foreign intelligence community. There exist a number of departments in the US that monitor or counterintelligence information. The department of Justice. This department controls the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Naturalization Service. The CIA. It has an all-source intelligence information collection policy relating to terrorism and methods to counter it. It is restricted to foreign intelligence. Department of Health and Human Services. This department includes centers for the prevention and control of diseases. This is important because terror groups may plan their attacks and execute them using such tools as diseases. The department of Transportation. Transportation is an important aspect in connecting people or goods from one place to another. In the wake of terrorism and its threats, transport systems can be used to conduct an attack. The US has therefore established the department of transportation to deal with such issues.
Besides these departments, there are several domestic systems that presumably provide information that helps in counter-terrorism. For example, the FBI houses the National Crime Information Centre and their computer systems. The police officers national wide have access to the information. This makes them alert and on toes in case anything related to terrorism happen. The FBI also houses the Awareness of National Security Issues and Response program. It is designed to work closely with businesses so that they can alert employees of any terrorist attack or impending threat. The Organized Crime and Enforcement Taskforce also promotes a coordinated process and effort in drug enforcement agencies. It should be noted that none of these departments have an all source method of collecting and analyzing both foreign and domestic intelligence (Dickson, 20-25).
The office of Homeland Security ought to develop a means to allow agencies dealing with intelligence share their information regarding specific terror threats. The US law restricts such law and agencies dealing with foreign intelligence information from collecting information from American citizens which is a serious problem. The US ensures that the agents or persons who provide information on terrorism are well guarded and that no harm can come on their way. Hezbollah has thrived for a couple of years and has become highly capable because of the funding it receives to recruit its militia. The most powerful blow to the group came when the then President of the United States Bush, signed an executive order which froze the assets of terrorist groups amongst them Hezbollah, and al-Qaida. A more major blow came after the executive order was amended to include the financiers of Hezbollah. An order that was made earlier and renewed yearly also included groups like Hezbollah as security threats. The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that was binding to all states the international law. The resolution obliged that all member states should deny support of any kind including shelter, finances or machinery to a terrorism group. Failure to abide by the resolution by member states would be met by harsh penalties. To that effect, a security follows up council was established to ensure that there is full compliance with the standards. The resolution yielded results as the United States received reports of additional dollars in millions that had been frozen.
There are also other measures that the United States has used to shield itself or counter the possible threats of the terrorism threats. America has established a security measure of protecting its citizens who are traveling abroad. To accomplish that, the state trains foreign security officials who enforce a law and become a pillar of this effort. The program is also crucial in promoting America’s policies and contacts with the foreign states and particularly where terrorism groups emanate from. This in turn yield positive results in counterterrorism goals. The United States gas trained over 20,000 law enforcement officials from over 100 states to date. The international borders are also manned, with the help of sophisticated computer technology in order to ensure anybody closing into and out of the State is well understood. As highlighted earlier, there exists a “reward for justice” program where persons or entities that report of terrorism threats are rewarded with some amount of money. The United States are planning to increase this reward in order to motivate many people to be vigilant and extra careful in the wake of terrorism and the danger it poses to the society.
With terrorism becoming an international threat, nations are entitled to cooperate and work as one in combating a common enemy. As such, the United States has maintained many international coalitions and proclaimed solidarity in fighting terrorism while in partnership with many other states. Cooperation with the states that the terrorism group emerged like Palestine and Lebanon was put more weight in order to deal with the security threats at first hand. The barrier for international cooperation came by when some nations repulsed and avoided the come together and fight together for a common good goal.
Some of the policies used to counter threats by the United States have some deficiency. It is therefore very important and due to the wake of global terrorism problem, they are improved. The most recent of restricting the entry of Muslims in the state is not only inhuman but creating bad blood between the Muslim community and the state. In as much as Hezbollah and other terror groups pose as Religion, it is very important to ensure that not all the Muslims are victimized. The state should not restrict the entry of Muslims entirely. It should make sure that any Muslim that is crossing the borders is well frisked and that they provide all documentation and the reason for being in the country. In their stay, the Muslim visitors should be kept at close range and their activities monitored. By so doing, there shall be no bad blood between the state and Muslims. It should be understood that some of the entrants come for the sake of business (Goodenough, 2015).
The reward for justice program that has been in place for some time since the September 11 attack is also deficient and requires improvement in order for it to suit today occurrences. A number of people have since taken advantage and organized drill attacks and reported them in order to receive payment. The state should be keen on that and put some conditions on the policy like reporting of terror threats with enough evidence and more information that is easily understandable. The state should be keen on the persons giving any intelligence because they might even be the terrorists themselves. Therefore, besides the reported intelligence information, the state should be keen in utilizing its own intelligence officers and analyzing every situation as it comes.
Public diplomacy is a good policy and a method of gathering intelligence information from the masses. It is, however, deficient and requires more improvement for it to bear more substantial results. The state should ensure that there are enough diplomatic officers amidst the people in order for them to collect even the very small bits of information that is held there. There should be more appealing methods of making the public open up their minds and heart to the officers. By so doing, no information shall be confiscated or denied to the state as a result of investing in a public diplomacy system that is not worth or well equipped. The counter-terrorism policy on partnership is also important and works well in combating crime as a group or as partners. However, the United States has not made more improvements in order to put more strength to this policy. There should be enough networks set up to ensure that the partnership programs work well and are not interrupted by any eventuality. The partnership should be more geared to the countries or states where terrorism emerge.
The United States use secret service to gather intelligence about different things, amongst them being our subject, terrorism. The secret service should be equipped with modern equipment and knowledge Labels them to be up to date with technology. It is crucial for them to be taken for some formal training regularly to add on what they already know. There should be enough and good reward system to ensure that the secret service officers get the motivation to keep going on and doing their best. All these policies are good. The recommendations highlighted are meant to improve them and provide more credible outcomes (Ballout, 2016).
In conclusion, the current world is operating in the wake of very terror and the threats associated. Hezbollah being one of them, and its example showing us clearly how the militia terrorist groups are advanced and well equipped financially and asset wise, it is the responsibility of each state to ensure that there are enough counterterrorism strategies and policies put in place. The governments should work with one another in fighting the common enemy. Enough research ought to be conducted to establish the reason behind terror attacks. With the reason for terrorism at hand, the states can work towards ensuring that the necessary steps are taken to avert it. There should be enough public education and awareness that differences in religion, specifically Christianity and Islam, should not make people engage in war or terror. Finally, the nations that support terrorism in any way should be made to bear the effects of these terror attacks.
References
Azani, E. (2012). Hezbollah Strategy of Walking on the Edge. Between Political Game and Political violence, 741-759.
Ballout, D. (2016). Gulf Cooperation Council Lables Hezbollah a Terrorist Group. The Wall Street Journal on Terrorism, 16-23.
Col, D. (2006). Hezbollah, a global terorrist organization. Journal of Global terrorism, 45-47.
Dickson, T. (20-25). Hezbollah and its goals. One thought on “Hezbollah and its Goals”.
Goodenough, P. (2015). Iran, Hezbollah Return to Terrorism. Journal of International Security, 23-28.
Graham, F. (2013). Introduction of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Journal of International Security, 18-21.
