Palestine is not Ukraine! Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shīʿite Islamist political party and militant group led by its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992, has commented this, while issuing a statement on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas (Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah or Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine). With this, the Lebanese outfit has sent a strong message to the countries that support Israel, stating that Hezbollah would not allow third parties to get involved in this war. Hezbollah issued the statement immediately after US President Joe Biden announced that his government would stand by Israel. President Biden claimed that many US citizens died at the hands of Palestinian Hamas Movement on October 7, 2023. Washington DC has already started sending warships and other military aid to Tel Aviv. In the statement, a senior spokesperson of Hezbollah stressed: “Palestine is not Ukraine. If the US intervenes directly, all US positions in the region will become legitimate targets of the resistance axis and face our attacks. And on that day, there will be no red line.”

It may be noted that Hezbollah struck Israeli positions in disputed areas along the border with Syria’s Golan Heights on October 8. In response to the Lebanese outfit’s attack, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) also launched strikes towards Lebanon and are working towards taking down Hezbollah camps in Gaza as well. Meanwhile, Russia, too, has expressed concern about a third party intervening in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Senior Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the press: “The risk of third forces becoming involved in this conflict is high.“

Now, the IDF are fighting against both Hamas and Hezbollah. While Hamas is targeting Israel from the southern border of the Jewish nation, Hezbollah is launching attacks from the northern border. The IDF claimed on October 10 that more than a dozen rockets were launched into Israel from Lebanese territory. Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu stated that special attention was being paid to strengthening the northern border in order to stop Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, meaning Party of Allah or Party of God in Arabic, is basically a Lebanese Shīʿite Islamist political outfit and a militant group. Hezbollah’s paramilitary wing is called the Jihad Council, and its political wing is called the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc Party. This Iranian-backed Lebanese outfit emerged in the midst of the (Lebanese) Civil War in the 1980s. Islamic cleric and political leader Nasrallah has been leading the outfit since 1992. Currently, Hezbollah controls all Shiite-majority areas of Lebanon, including the capital city of Beirut. Several countries, including Israel and the US, have identified Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

In 1978, Israel sent troops to Lebanon and occupied the southern part of the West Asian nation. According to New York-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations, the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon was the beginning of decades-old conflict between the two countries. Since its formation, Hezbollah has been considering Israel as the main enemy of Lebanon, and sporadically clashing with the Israelis. The Council on Foreign Relations has said that conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has been going on even after Israel officially withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah reportedly fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah has been repeatedly blamed for multiple attacks on Israelis abroad. The Council on Foreign Relations has claimed that the activities of Hezbollah are no longer limited to Lebanon, as it has support bases in Africa, Asia and the US. Hezbollah, along with Iran and Russia, backed the Bashar al-Assad Government in Damascus during the Syrian Civil War. As a political party, Hezbollah lost its majority in Lebanon’s 128-member Legislature in 2022 elections.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah refuse to accept the existence of Israel. These two outfits have been identified as terrorist groups by Israel, the US and their Western allies. Interestingly, the Hezbollah group belongs to the Shīʿite branch of Islam, while Hamas belongs to the Sunni branch. The Palestinian Hamas Movement controls the territory in Gaza, and Hezbollah is present in various parts of Lebanon. These two outfits have reportedly been backed by Iran for a long time. Time and again, Israel has claimed that Tehran provides both Hamas and Hezbollah with weapons. According to Tel Aviv, the Iranian Armed Forces also train Hamas and Hezbollah fighters.

Naftali Bennett, the former Prime Minister of Israel, coined the term Octopus Doctrine in 2018 to describe his Iran strategy. He reportedly said: “We are implementing the Octopus Doctrine. We no longer play with the tentacles, with Iran’s proxies: we have created a new equation by going for the head.” According to Bennett, the head of the octopus is Iran’s power, while one arm of that octopus is Hezbollah and the other is Hamas. This time, both Hezbollah and Hamas are waging war against Israel.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact us: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das