The Party of God 

Lebanon, 1982
"The joint forces of Palestinians and Amal were giving the Israelis their first experience of serious ground opposition in the advance on Beirut. At the time we attributed this to chance, although, down at Khalde, a remarkable phenomenon had taken shape. The Shia militiamen were running on foot into the Israeli gunfire to launch grenades at the Israeli armour, actually moving to within 20 feet of the tanks to open fire at them.
"Some of the Shia fighters had torn off pieces of their shirts and wrapped them around their heads as bands of martyrdom as the Iranian revolutionary guards had begun doing a year before when they staged their first mass attacks against the Iraqis in the Gulf War a thousand miles to the east. When they set fire to one Israeli armoured vehicle, the gunmen were emboldened to advance further. None of us, I think, realized the critical importance of the events of Khalde that night. The Lebanese Shia were learning the principles of martyrdom and putting them into practise. Never before had we seen these men wear headbands like this; we thought it was another militia affectation but it was not. It was the beginning of a legend which also contained a strong element of truth. The Shia were now the Lebanese resistance, nationalist no doubt but also inspired by their religion. The party of God -- in Arabic, the Hezbollah -- were on the beaches of Khalde that night."
Pity the Nation -- The Abduction of Lebanon, Robert Fisk

It's strange how the European and North American left enjoys speaking of Hezbollah, the Iran-brokered Lebanese Shia militia which acts as a terror proxy for the Republic of Iran, as a three-faceted ideological organization. There is, according to admiring reporters and supporters in the West, the political wing, the social wing, and the military wing. Just like any government, in fact.

Just like, in fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran which has its political, social and military functions subservient to its religious piety.

Iran is an ardent supporter of terrorism. Not just any garden-variety terrorism, but Shi'ite-centred and -led, for Shia Muslims have their very own agenda, quite different from that of Sunni Muslims. Shia worship direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammad, Sunni see no reason to bother with a line of accession.

One can be thought to be more pragmatic, the other embracing the divine directly. But, it now seems obvious to the world at large, never the twain shall meet in any measure of agreement. Save one.

Yet Hezbollah as a Shia organization, and the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot Hamas, do have something fundamental in common. Their realization that a double-pronged approach is the best solution to presenting themselves as the heroic champions of those whose sectarian faith they represent. All three offer social services to their followers, who are usually poverty-stricken, ignorant and trusting masses, eager to embrace the message of their heroes.

So offering food, water, medical care, education and occasionally funding to the impoverished followers whose loyalty they depend upon to give them the base they can rely upon to support their presence and their declarations of intent works very well indeed. Who to be loyal to other than those who ensure that one can survive the miseries of want and degraded lifestyles? Then there is the political side, since there is where power resides.

And the third element is the power of the sword, or the Kalashnikov, or the suicide vest, whatever works best for singular situations. The young and the virile love the challenge of becoming a warrior; better yet a martyr for whom chaste maidens await their ascension to Paradise as a divine reward for their sacrifice. One must view oneself as a victim, paranoia certainly helps, to become a bona fide psychopath, a killing machine par excellence.

Look to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Egypt for examples of Salafist and Shia martyrdom operations. Look a little further and you come across action in the Philippines, in China, in Turkey, in Algeria and in Kenya - oh and elsewhere ad infinitum. The scourge of deadly, death-dealing Islamist martyrdom has entranced and revitalized Islam beyond the stodgy acceptance of the quietly, modestly faithful.

When the European Union, finally, in the wake of the Hezbollah bombing in Bulgaria, declared the 'military wing' of Hezbollah a terrorist organization, it gave a free pass to the political, social wings, much to the amusement of Hezbollah leaders who were quick to point out that Hezbollah is indivisible and it takes pride in that fact.

Hezbollah holds 12 seats in Lebanon's parliament. As a responsible government agent it has dispatched thousands of troops to fight in Syria.

Bringing a punishing response from Syria and from Iraq in the guise of al-Qaeda back to Lebanon. To deliver a message both to Iran and to Hezbollah, and by extension to Lebanon, that should Hezbollah insist on maintaining its troops in Syria both they and Lebanon will pay the steep price. This is the incendiary hatred that lights of the fire of Islamist jihad.

"I don't think Hezbollah supporters are afraid of the EU. If anything (the EU's decision) legitimizes Hezbollah's claim that there is a war, by which I mean a local war. For many of them I think there is a belief that there's a grand battle against the party."
Bassel Salloukh, Lebanese American University, Beirut

Hezbollah, the party of God, is funded by Iran, and by 'donations' from Shia Muslims living in Europe and North America. Saudi funding goes to al-Qaeda, and Qatar enjoys funding Hamas. Hezbollah also enjoys reaping financial rewards throughout Europe and North America with its operatives closely engaged in smuggling illegal drugs, weapons, and people, for gain and profit to fund their activities. Odd, for a party dedicated to God...?

The sole and singular issue on which all the vicious 'militants' -- as the Western press so politely enjoys naming them -- enthusiastically agree upon is that the presence of the State of Israel, on Middle East land dedicated to Islam and thus degrading Islam, depriving the Arab Palestinians of their patrimony (which previously no Arab state permitted them), is the casus belli of all Arab and Muslim upheavals.

Free Palestine from the graceless clutches of the nefarious sub-human Israeli Jews and all the disagreements and misunderstandings, the hostility and the oppression, the murderous assaults and the bloody slaughters that take place daily in the Arab Muslim world would cease, instantly.