Behind the surgery that promised peace but stole identities
Former leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah party, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike in September 2024. A few months before his death, he gave an illuminating speech on the outskirts of Beirut. The speech was about his childhood.
Nasrallah was born in 1960, a pivotal time in Lebanese history. As the eldest of nine children, his father was a vegetable and fruit seller in Beirut’s impoverished eastern neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud. This is one of many areas in Lebanon that would come to rely on the social support of Hezbollah.
The Hezbollah political movement, although often framed as merely a reactionary militant group, is profoundly civil-oriented. It is a movement that grew from marginalized groups to confront the aspects of society that harbor marginalization.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon, founded during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). Its development occurred along with the formation of the Israeli state and the influx of nearly one million Palestinian refugees into Lebanon.
Their stronghold is primarily in areas that have been economically disadvantaged, including some suburbs in Beirut, such as where Nasrallah was born, as well as parts of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. These areas have been particularly devastated by Israeli airstrikes and ground invasions in 2024.
In these regions, Hezbollah offers affordable and even free healthcare, as well as education services, for those who cannot access proper care or schooling otherwise.
Hezbollah provides financial assistance to impoverished families, including access to food, relief efforts, housing, investments in public services, cultural activities, and other assistance.
These activities have been essential to the quality of life for marginalized communities, particularly those in poorer Shiite neighborhoods. An understanding of Hezbollah’s grassroots movement and support is essential to contextualizing its political influence.
Policies promoting access to public services and social welfare, geared toward some of Lebanon’s poorest communities, are coupled with the political movement’s critique of marginalization exercised by political elites, which tends to favor wealthy Sunni and Christian communities.
Hezbollah has offered an alternative to the neglect faced by some of Lebanon’s most marginalized communities. This has not only made Hezbollah politically popular but, as outlined, they've become providers of public services where they otherwise do not exist.
Hezbollah’s support has largely been generated through grassroots mobilization. This means that the groups of people who live in these impoverished communities are connected with a wide network of supporters that implements its programs and promotes political engagement.
The structures that the group has put in place for these communities are essential to many people’s lives, offering a sense of support in a context that is otherwise unstable.
Contextualizing Hezbollah as not only a political entity, but also a provider of social services helps to explain their stronghold in particular communities, and explains how they’ve managed to garner so much social power over the years.
How is Hezbollah’s presence and power interpreted by other sects and socio-economic classes? Among the Sunni population, there are conflicting views, particularly due to the group’s role in the Syrian revolution and its intimate relationship with other nations, such as Iran.
While the critiques from Sunni communities also depend on political ideologies, relationships with other parties, regions, and other contexts, particularly economically disadvantaged Sunni communities have also benefited from Hezbollah’s social programs.
While there is no clear-cut relationship between Sunni communities and Hezbollah, there are a number of variables, such as socio-economic class, that strongly impact how the group is viewed by different communities.
Similarly, Lebanon’s Christian communities also hold many different perspectives and relationships to the group. Some Christian groups are historically sympathetic to Israel. This was particularly evident during the Lebanese Civil War.
The Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Phalange party are paramilitary groups formed during the Lebanese Civil War that had strategic alliances with Israel. In conjunction with Israeli forces, the LF and the Phalange had prominent roles in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees were killed over the course of two days.
The LF and the Phalange’s alliance with Israel and explicit opposition against Palestinian factions, as well as Syrian forces, made them a natural opposing force to groups like Hezbollah.
While the groups disarmed following the 1990 Taif Agreement, they merged and transformed into political parties. Christian communities have been at odds with each other depending on their political ideologies.
Christian groups like the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) have been at odds with Israel-aligned political groups, while being in political agreement with Hezbollah and sharing similar political interests.
While opposition groups don't generally have military confrontations in contemporary Lebanon, the ideological oppositions between the groups speak to contrasting visions of the future of the country’s politics.
Smaller sects, such as the Druze and Armenian communities, have engaged in pragmatic relationships with Hezbollah. At times, the communities and their respective political parties have been aligned with Hezbollah’s political interests.
Other times, more oppositional and neutral stances have been taken in efforts to prioritize a minimization of involvement in sectarian conflicts.
Hezbollah’s social welfare programs and services have benefitted many different sects and communities, creating overlaps in political and military strategies.
Yet, there are a great deal of complex tensions that arise from differences in ideological positioning, with some groups identifying Hezbollah as a source of the country’s instability.
Frustrations have built along sectarian lines regarding Hezbollah’s position in refusing to disarm. At times, the lack of political progress has also been attributed to Hezbollah’s role in isolating the country from international support, particularly from the West.
Hezbollah’s role in other nation’s conflicts and its connections to countries like Iran have also contributed to frustrations regarding the country’s economic crisis and political vulnerabilities to violence.
Therefore, although Hezbollah has played and will likely continue to play a significant role in covering the social welfare gaps of the state, its role in the country’s instability is a source of frustration for many of the nation’s communities.
Sources: (Council on Foreign Relations) (ABC News) (CBS News) (Columbia Journalism Review) (Business Standard) (NPR) (AP News) (IMEU) (The Wall Street Journal) (Foreign Affairs) (BBC) (AP News) (NPR)
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Hezbollah explained: a complex role in Middle Eastern politics
Contextualizing Hezbollah's political movement
LIFESTYLE Lebanon
Although Hezbollah is often narrowly described in Western media, learning about its origins, function, and impact is essential to understanding the current escalations Lebanon is experiencing in its war with Israel. Hezbollah is one of Lebanon’s most powerful political entities for a reason. While historically grounded in the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah is more than just the militant group we hear about most often. The group is democratically elected and has consistently secured significant representation in the Lebanese parliament for several decades. It operates through coalitions and strategic partnerships with other parties from different sects and provides essential social services for marginalized populations.
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