Many Muslims give their emotions free reign to judge things and to evaluate men, organizations and states. They do not bother themselves discover what is behind the scenes or what is done sub-rosa or to search for roots and origins of issues. Thus thinking, they will be greatly misled and will be driven into a great misconception of consequences. I think they will regain consciousness only when stricken by a disaster and when it is too late.

In the previous article "The Story of Hezbollah 1/3", we gave account of the deep roots that paved the way for the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon. In this article, I will go on my way knowing that I am treading a tightrope. I also know that while trying to provide Muslims with a wider vision I will be confronted with a sweeping wave of refusal and insults from those Muslims who sympathize with any successful example during this sensitive period of the Ummah's history regardless of whether such an example is a corrupt Shiite who thinks that criticizing, slandering and objecting to the opinions and situations of Companions is a kind of practicing freedom of opinion. I am also certain that I will be confronted with a fierce resistance of Shia themselves.

They back Sunni writers who call to closing and not to deal with this file and to pay attention only to the danger of the USA and the Zionist entity. Meanwhile, they will be taking large strides towards achieving their plans and Muslims will be surprised by the existence of a Shiite state as large as the Buwayhid state or even larger!

AMAL divided after Musa Al-Sadr

After coming from the Iranian city of Qom to Lebanon having lived for a while in Najaf, Musa Al-Sadr sought to unite Shiites in one integrated entity that is apt to be the future state. He concerned himself with the sectarian characteristic of the entity and thus established the Supreme Shiite Council in 1969 A.D. He also paid attention to the military aspect and thus founded the AMAL, acronym for Afwaj al-Muqawama al-Lubnaniyya (Lebanese Resistance Detachments), Movement. He established strong ties with Maronite Christians as well as the USA, Syria and those who dispatched him to Lebanon foremost among whom is Al-Khomeini who lived in Iraq at that time

With the increasing power of Al-Sadr, a conflict of interests started to take place and a d
ispute rose between him and the leaders of the would-be Iranian Revolution as well as between him and the Alawi Syrian president Hafiz Al-Asad who was one of his strongest supporters. These disputes ended up with the surprise of Al-Sadr's disappearance in Libya while paying an official visit in 1978.

Actually, Musa Al-Sadr left behind a great vacancy to be filled.

 Shia tried to reorganize themselves and appointed Al-Sadr's deputy Abdul-Amir Qabalan as the head of the Supreme Shiite Council while still named the deputy president and thus leaving the president's post vacant till now. Moreover, the spiritual authority was given to one of their sheikhs, Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allah.

 However, the situation in the Shiite military wing, known as the AMAL Movement, worsened and its members were divided into two parties.

The first party consists of secular Shiites who want to manage things without reference to the Twelver (Ithna 'Ashriyyah) rulings, do not like to be attached to religious authorities outside Lebanon and, rather, adopt a nationalist thought. This party is headed by the well-known Lebanese leader Nabih Berri.
The second party consists of those who want to go on following the steps of Musa Al-Sadr and thus establish a sectarian Shiite-based state applying the deviated beliefs of Shia by force of armament. Such a state is to expand its authority to as many areas as it can and is to be attached to the revolution leadership planning for a coup d'etat in Iran. However, the latter party lacked a leader to be led by.

During this awkward period, two Shiite figures who studied the Shiite creed in Najaf, Iraq, came back to Lebanon. These two figures were Abbas Al-Musawi and Hassan Nasrallah, who will have great impact on preserving Musa Al-Sadr's sectarian religious line.

The two men could quickly permeate into the AMAL Movement and occupy leading positions therein although Hassan Nasrallah was only eighteen at that time.

In 1979, the Iranian Revolution took place, the Shah was ousted and Al-Khomeini returned from Paris (having been exiled there by Iraq in 1978) to Tehran to assume leadership and make the necessary arrangements. He then got rid of his competitors and snubbed those belonging to other Iranian current
s who helped him. Actually, he could absolutely secure a foothold. However, he did not head for the holy city of Qom as was expected but remained in the capital Tehran.

Firmly settled in Iran, Al-Khomeini began to put Lebanon and Iraq into consideration as they contain the largest population of Shia and, at the same time, represent the integral part of the Shiite plan to establish a great state in the region.

The situation in Iraq aggravated as Saddam Hussein ruled it with an iron hand, which was experienced by Al-Khomeini himself who stayed in Iraq for fourteen full years before being expelled to Paris. Therefore, Al-Khomeini perceived that the Shia organization in Iraq cannot topple Saddam Hussein's ruling regime. Hence, Al-Khomeini chose the military option and immediately waged a comprehensive war against the Iraqi regime in 1980 – less than one year after the Iranian Revolution. The purpose of waging the war was to topple the regime and hand over authority to the Shia of Iraq and consequently annex it to Al-Khomeini's long-dreamt-of great Shiite state.

As for far multi-sects Lebanon, it needs a long way preparation requiring men of complete loyalty to Al-Khomeini. Therefore, Al-Khomeini contacted the two men believing in the Twelver thought and the principle of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists which helped Al-Khomeini come to power. These two men were Abbas Al-Musawi and Hassan Nasrallah. Since then, Iranian direct support of them started. However, the AMAL Movement is still led by the secular-oriented Nabih Berri.

In 1981, the AMAL Movement held its fourth conference to put an end to internal disputes between conflicting parties within the movement each aspiring laying control on the Shiite south. The conference came up with a decision to the effect of the continuation of Nabih Berri at the head of AMAL making Abbas Al-Musawi his deputy, which is an important step to control southern Lebanon.

Zionist invasion: The Shiite situation

In June 6, 1980, an event took place that changed the arrangements of all parties. To the surprise of everyone, Zionists invaded southern Lebanon as a whole and even imposed a siege on Beirut demanding the expulsion of Yassir Arafat, the leaders of Fatah and other armed Palestinian militias from southern Lebanon. It was so obvious that the Zionist army agreed with the Christian Maronites to exclude Palestinians who constituted a pressing force in the Lebanese society. In this regard, many massacres were committed against Palestinians most prominent of which is Sabra and Shatila massacre during which three thousand Palestinians were killed. Anyway, Zionists together with Christian Maronites managed to expel most Palestinians from southern Lebanon and from Beirut.

Actually, such events coincided with the desires of Shiites who long ago demanded the expulsion of Palestinians from the south in order to pave the way for them to establish their state there. However, the Zionist occupation did not withdraw after expelling Palestinians. Rather, it perched in Lebanon occupying the whole south Lebanon.

This development had the effect of destroying Shia's hopes of establishing their state, especially as they are divided into secularists and religious. Thus, the religious among them decided to disaffiliate from the AMAL Movement and contact Iran leaders to gain their support. They have already formed a nine-member committee which traveled to Tehran. On meeting Al-Khomeini, they declared their belief in the principle of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists. Accordingly, Al-Khomeini will be the Islamic Jurist under whose guardianship Lebanese Shiites will be subject. Al-Khomeini authorized the committee who returned to Lebanon to actually disaffiliate from the AMAL Movement and form what was known at that time as Islamic Amal Movement which was headed by Abbas Al-Musawi.

Iran strongly backed the newly-formed entity and further sent to Al-Biqa valley in Lebanon through Syria 1500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to give a military training to Islamic Amal Movement and to provide it with necessary financial and military capacities. Thus, the nascent movement gained the support of two big countries in the region, i.e. Iran and Syria. However, Syria continued to support the nationalist AMAL Movement at the same time.

Foundation of Hezbollah and dominating the south

The Lebanese Civil War continued flaring up and the power of the Islamic Amal Movement continued to grow till Abbas Al-Musawi declared in February 1985, the foundation of Hezbollah as an alternative of the Islamic Amal Movement. Three months later, namely in May 1985, the AMAL Movement headed by Nabih Berri committed a heinous massacre against Palestinians
killing hundreds of them to give the finishing stroke to those of them who survived in southern Lebanon.

 The AMAL Movement competed with Hezbollah for leadership in southern Lebanon and Al-Biqa valley, where Shia population centralize. Hence, conflict between them got so fierce and ended up with a violent battle during which Hezbollah crushed the AMAL Movement in 1988. Later on, more than 90% of the members of AMAL joined Hezbollah that is subordinated to Iran according to the system of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists and supported by Syria. Consequently, AMAL gave up the military arena and turned into no more than a political group.

Although Hezbollah became the sole competitor in the arena, its main source of power, i.e. southern Lebanon, was still occupied by Jews. This caused it to dominate some areas in Beirut making them a jumping-off point. Actually, Hezbollah did not seek to attack eastern Beirut where the Christian population live. Rather, it attacked western and specially southern Beirut and started to occupy it by military force bearing in mind that these are areas where the Sunni population reside. Hezbollah would sometimes construct its edifices in public places and sometimes on Sunni-owned lands, an act that was well-known by the Lebanese government, which moved no hairbreadth in this regard. Eventually, the southern suburban of Beirut turned into a purely Shiite region under the complete control of Hezbollah.

Al-Khomeini died in 1989 to be succeeded in the post of the Revolution Guide by Ali Khamenei. However, nothing changed as to Hezbollah's subordination to the guardian Islamic jurist Ali Khamenei. In the same year, Lebanese conflicting parties met in Taif through a Saudi intermediation to sign the Taif Agreement which ended the Lebanese civil war. In the same year, the greatest Sunni figure in Lebanon, Sh
eikh Hassan Khalid (may Allah show mercy to him), was assassinated and thus Sunnis lost their leadership which gave way for Hezbollah to rise as the Islamic symbol in Lebanon.

Fighting against Jews and snubbing Sunnis

Hezbollah started preparation to fight against Jews in order to free their previously-owned lands, on which they aspire for establishing the Shiite state. Fabulous funds from Iran flowed on Hezbollah plus Syrian support. This caused trouble to Jews who assassinated Abbas Al-Musawi the secretary-general of Hezbollah to be succeeded in leadership by Hassan Nasrallah.

In the same year, a new Sunni symbol, Rafik Al-Hariri, came to light around whom Lebanese Sunnis rallied. Al-Hariri assumed the post of prime minister from 1992 to 1996. He started the reconstruction of Lebanon and could gain popularity.

In 1996, Zionists launched a savage aggression against Lebanon which they called Operation Grapes of Wrath. Patriotic zeal motivated the Lebanese people to get rid of the Zionist occupation. Hezbollah declared the formation of Lebanese brigades for resisting the Zionist enemy. Different sects of the Lebanese people joined the brigades, which consisted mostly of Sunnis who constituted 38% thereof, while Shiites constituted 25%, Druze constituted 20% and Christians constituted 17%.

Attacks launched by the brigades caused Zionists to withdraw from most areas of southern Lebanon in 2000 with the exception of Shebaa farms region. Thereafter, Hezbollah occupied all freed territories refusing the deployment of the Lebanese army forces in such places. By doing so, Hezbollah snubbed joint efforts exerted to liberate Lebanon. Moreover, it encroached upon the Sunni-owned lands in southern Lebanon and in Jabal Lubnan; it even encroached upon some mosques including Al-Nabi Yunus Mosque along with Waqfs (endowments) dedicated to it in Al-Hayyah region.

Rafik Al-Hariri and the Shiite expansion

Once again, Rafik Al-Hariri assumed the post of prime minister in the same year of Zionists withdrawal. He thus came to light again along with his family to become a celebrated Sunni symbol that represented a real challenge to the Shiite expansion ambitions in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's power was increasingly growing and was waiting for an opportunity to establish the Iran-Syria-Supported Shiite state. However, the rise of Rafik Al-Hariri added some balance to the situation in the eyes of the Lebanese people. In 2004, Rafik Al-Hariri resigned his post as a prime minister in view of difference with Syrians whose military existence in Lebanon was so condensed. Later on, a great surprise happened on February 14, 2005, when Rafik Al-Hariri was assassinated as his motorcade drove in Beirut and thus Sunnis lost one unique symbol. It is to be borne in mind that many world intelligence systems, including American, French, Syrian, Iranian and Lebanese intelligence, were working on the Lebanese arena.

Lebanon was tremendously shocked by the assassination of Rafik Al-Hariri. International community pointed the finger at Syria and thus demanded Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. However, Hezbollah arranged a great demonstration on March 8, 2005 supporting the Syrian existence in Lebanon and refusing Syria's withdrawal. This was confronted by the Future Movement, the movement to which Al-Hariri's family belongs led by Saad Al-Hariri, supported by Democratic Gathering Bloc led by Walid Jumblatt and the Maronite Lebanese Forces party led by Samir Geagea.

They arranged a great demonstration on March 14, 2005 demanding the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. Thus,
this coalition was called March 14 Alliance. Later, Syria already withdrew from Lebanon in the same month.

Hezbollah's dilemma and 2006 Lebanon War

After the withdrawal of Syria, Hezbollah found out that it is facing a dilemma in Lebanon, especially after sectarian tone started to strongly beat the drum. Therefore, Hezbollah decided to participate in a significant political work with other powers. Thus, Hezbollah ran Lebanese parliamentary elections allying with three other factions, namely the Sunni Future Movement, the Druze current of Walid Jumblat – in spite of its enmity to both parties – and the AMAL Movement, which was called Quadruple Coalition. The coalition together won 72 seats out of total 128 seats in the parliament to constitute the majority and thus formed the government of Lebanon headed by Fouad Siniora.

Compelled under circumstances, Hezbollah participated with Sunnis despite its difference with them hoping to appear as a patriotic participant. Nevertheless, Hassan Nasrallah did not attend government's meetings or public conferences and would only send a delegate. Moreover, he would deal with everyone arrogantly as if giving indication of future dominance over them all.

Actually, this point of view is strongly substantiated by the fact that Hezbollah launched a military operation against Zionists killing eight and capturing two soldiers without any consultation whatsoever with the state of which they are joint-rulers or with their allies through whose help they were elected to the parliament. The military operation caused the whole country, not only Hezbollah, to engage in war with the Zionist entity.

The well-known war was launched in July 2006. The 33-day Zionist massive airstrikes and artillery fire targeted damaging Lebanese civilian infrastructure. Hezbollah responded firing rockets. Actually, many Lebanese people were killed during the war. However, Jews failed to stop Hezbollah's rockets which was considered a victory for Hezbollah on account of airstrikes having failed to stop Hezbollah's rocket force or to restore the two captured soldiers.

The destructive war came to an end leaving the Lebanese society face a huge scene of destruction that prevailed all over the country and face a hugely increasing Shiite influence represented in Hezbollah which still owns Iranian developed weapons and is still strongly supported by Syria. Since then, everyone started to feel that the country is about to be purely dominated by Shia, which is inspired by the general notion of Islamic sympathy with Hezbollah during its war against Jews.

What happened in Lebanon thereafter? What steps did the Shiite plan take forward? How did Hassan Nasrallah expressed his vision of the future of Lebanon? Why did Hezbollah lost the late parliamentary elections in spite of its increasing power? What is the duty of the Muslim Ummah masses regarding this situation?

The answer to these questions will be dealt with in length in our coming article, if Allah so wills. I ask Allah to glorify Islam and Muslims.

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