Hezbollah: The Final Act

In the modern Middle East, if any group could claim the mantle of revolutionary Islam, it is Hezbollah. And no country, with the exception of Syria and Iran itself, has suffered more from the Iranian Revolution than Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the Party of God, operates outside state control. The story of Hezbollah’s rise is central to understanding Lebanon’s current plight, in which decisions of war and peace are made by a fanatical and bellicose militia rather than the sovereign state. Its fall would not only restore Lebanon to its full stature but, by virtue of Lebanon’s position as the strategic gate to the Levant, restore balance to the region as a whole.

It is often forgotten that the war provoked by Hamas’s murderous assault on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, was joined one day later by Iran’s other jihadist surrogate on the Mediterranean. On October 8, while Hamas continued to wreak havoc against Israeli civilians in the Gaza envelope, Hezbollah launched a volley of rockets into northern Israel. In conflict with Israel since the group was founded nearly half a century ago, Hezbollah made a fateful decision to strike at the Jewish state in its hour of maximum danger.

About the Author

Brian Stewart

Brian Stewart is a political writer in New York City.

Featured Tags

In the modern Middle East, if any group could claim the mantle of revolutionary Islam, it is Hezbollah. And no country, with the exception of Syria and Iran itself, has suffered more from the Iranian Revolution than Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the Party of God, operates outside state control. The story of Hezbollah’s rise is central to understanding Lebanon’s current plight, in which decisions of war and peace are made by a fanatical and bellicose militia rather than the sovereign state. Its fall would not only restore Lebanon to its full stature but, by virtue of Lebanon’s position as the strategic gate to the Levant, restore balance to the region as a whole.

It is often forgotten that the war provoked by Hamas’s murderous assault on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, was joined one day later by Iran’s other jihadist surrogate on the Mediterranean. On October 8, while Hamas continued to wreak havoc against Israeli civilians in the Gaza envelope, Hezbollah launched a volley of rockets into northern Israel. In conflict with Israel since the group was founded nearly half a century ago, Hezbollah made a fateful decision to strike at the Jewish state in its hour of maximum danger.