Hezbollah (حزب
الله)
Hezbollah
or Hezb-Allah (Arabic حزب
الله,
meaning Party of God
is a Lebanese Islamist group founded in 1982 to fight the Israeli
occupation in southern Lebanon.Along with the Amal movement, Hezbollah is the main political party representing the Shia community, Lebanon's largest religious bloc.
Founded with the aid of Iran, it follows the distinctly Shiite Islamist ideology developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon, on the principle of sovereignty of the jurisconsult, although recognising that this could only come about with the consensus of the Lebanese people.
In addition to its military wing, Hezbollah maintains a civilian arm, which runs hospitals, news services, and educational facilities and participates in the Lebanese Parliament. Its Reconstruction Campaign (Jihad al-Bina) is responsible for numerous economic and infrastructural development projects in Shia-populated areas of Lebanon.
Hezbollah is regarded by many in the Arab and Muslim worlds as a legitimate resistance movement and is a recognized political party in Lebanon, where it has participated in government. However, a number of Western governments, including that of the United States, have designated it a terrorist organization, while the European Union has designated the party's external security wing, but not the organization as a whole, as a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah has a military branch known as Al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya ("The Islamic Resistance"), and is the possible sponsor of a number of lesser-known militant organizations, some of which may be little more than fronts for Hezbollah itself. These organizations include the Organization of the Oppressed, the Revolutionary Justice Organization, the Organization of Right Against Wrong, and Followers of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hezbollah has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Israel and Australia; the U.S. Department of State accuses Hezbollah of killing up to 300 American citizens (over 230 of whom were U.S Marines in Lebanon - though accountability for the Marine barracks bombing has never been thoroughly established or proven). Hezbollah, however, denies any involvement in these attacks. The European Union has labeled Hezbollah's External Security Organization or international wing as "terrorist".
On March 10, 2005 the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly (473 in favor, 8 against, 33 abstain) branding Hezbollah in whole as a terrorist organization. The resolution stated that the "Parliament considers that clear evidence exists of terrorist activities by Hezbollah. The (EU) Council should take all necessary steps to curtail them". The EU has also decided to block Hezbollah's Al-Manar television from European satellites in order to enforce European regulations against "incitement to racial and/or religious hatred". The United Nations has not included Hezbollah on its list of suspected terrorist groups (which is just being drawn up). However it has called for the disbanding of Hezbollah's military wing in UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
Hezbollah has denounced some acts of terror, such as the September 11 attacks, GIA massacres in Algeria, Armed Islamic Group attacks on tourists in Egypt, and the murder of Nick Berg. As a stated aim of Hezbollah is the removal of the state of Israel, it expresses support and sympathy for the activities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Islamist groups responsible for suicide attacks and armed resistance in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Scholars differ on when Hezbollah came to be a distinct entity. Some organizations list the official formation of the group as early as 1982, (GlobalSecurity.org, 2005) whereas Diaz and Newman maintain that Hezbollah remained an amalgamation of various violent Shi’a extremists until as late as 1985 (Diaz & Newman, 2005, p. 55). Regardless of when the name came into official use, a number of Shi’a groups were slowly assimilated into the organization, such as Islamic Jihad, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization].
One of the main objectives of Hezbollah at the time was to spread the Islamic Revolution. Since then, the party has publicly declared that it will suspend its attempts to create an Islamic state in Lebanon "because the conditions are not yet met" until there is no other viable alternative but to elect an Islamic government. It remained underground for a number of years and did not make a public announcement of its existence until 1985. Its earliest members operated under the auspices of the "Lebanese National Resistance," an amalgam of forces united in their opposition and resistance to the perceived Israeli aggression and invasion.
Combat Operations
After emerging during the civil war of the early 1980s as an Iranian-sponsored second resistance movement (besides Amal) for Lebanon's Shia community, Hezbollah focused on expelling Israeli and Western forces from Lebanon. It is the principal suspect in several notable attacks on the American, French and Italian Multinational forces, whose stated purpose was the stabilization of Lebanon: the suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy, which killed 63 including 17 Americans, of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut (see 1983 Beirut barracks bombing), which killed 241 American servicemen, and of the French multinational force headquarters which killed 58 French troops. Hezbollah has always denied having any involvement with these bombings, although regarding them as justified.
Elements of the group have been "linked" to involvement in kidnapping, detention and interrogation of American and other Western hostages in Lebanon by groups such as Islamic Jihad who claimed the hostage-takings were in retaliation to the detentions, hostage-taking and torture by the Israeli proxy army South Lebanon Army (SLA).
There also have been (attempted) terrorist attacks against Hezbollah. According to Bob Woodward's book Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, the CIA asked the Saudis to co-ordinate and carry out the assassination of Hezbollah's spiritual leader Fadlallah. The Saudis for their part hired an ex-SAS contact who coordinated and carried out the failed assassination attempt in March 1985, leaving over 80 civilians dead when an apartment building was reduced to rubble by a car bomb. The operation cost the Saudis $3 million and was conditional on it remaining a secret, which it didn't for long.
Terrorism
Using names like the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization, Hezbollah is also believed by the United States to have kidnapped and tortured to death U.S. Marine Colonel William R. Higgins and the CIA Station Chief in Beirut, William Buckley, and to have kidnapped around 30 other Westerners between 1982 and 1992, including the American journalist Terry Anderson, British journalist John McCarthy, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy Terry Waite and Irish citizen Brian Keenan. Hezbollah was accused by the US government of being responsible for the April 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63; of being behind the suicide truck bombings that killed 241 U.S. Marines in their barracks in Beirut in October 1983; of bombing the replacement U.S. Embassy in East Beirut on September 20, 1984, killing 20 Lebanese and two American soldiers; and of carrying out the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome.
The continued existence of Hezbollah's military wing after 1990 violates the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war, which requires the "disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias" and requires the government to "deploy the Lebanese army in the border area adjacent to Israel." The Lebanese government did not try to disarm the Hezbollah during the 1990-2000 period, justifying its position by the fact that Hezbollah was a legitimate national resistance force, fighting for the liberation of the south, then occupied by Israel.
Conflict in South Lebanon
South Lebanon was occupied by Israel between 1982 and 2000. Hezbollah, along with the mainly leftist and secular groups in the Lebanese National Resistance Front, fought a guerilla war against Israel and the Israeli proxy South Lebanon Army. The National Resistance Front militias disarmed in accordance with the Taif Accords, but Hezbollah remained defiant claiming until all Lebanese soil is liberated and Israel expelled, resistance against occupation will continue. They had become by far the largest and most powerful and effective of the resistance organizations. The fighting culminated during Operation Grapes of Wrath in April 1996 when Israel launched an assault and air-campaign against Hezbollah. The campaign failed and resulted in the Israelis killing more than 150 civilians and refugees in an aerial bombardment of a United Nations base at Qana.
In January 2000, Hezbollah assassinated the commander of the South Lebanon Army's Western Brigade, Colonel Aql Hashem, at his home in the security zone. Hashem had been responsible for day to day operations of the SLA.
In May 2000, Israel finally withdrew its army from south Lebanon. This was widely considered a victory for Hezbollah and boosted its popularity hugely in Lebanon. The expulsion of Israel did not end the conflict because Hezbollah is still contesting Israel's control of the Shebaa farms region.
Hezbollah's role in the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon gained the organization much respect in Lebanon and the wider Arab and Islamic world, particularly among the country's large Shi'a community. The Shi'a are the single largest religious group in Lebanon, probably comprising at least 48% of the three million citizens. The President of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, said: "For us Lebanese, and I can tell you the majority of Lebanese, Hezbollah is a national resistance movement. If it wasn't for them, we couldn't have liberated our land. And because of that, we have big esteem for the Hezbollah movement.".
Alleged Hezbollah terrorist involvement
Hezbollah has been suspected or accused of complicity in the following attacks. Hezbollah, however, denies any involvement. The Argentinean government says it has gathered enough evidence that prove Hezbollah complicity in one of these attacks (AMIA Bombing).
Hezbollah's secretary general, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated on February 16, 1992 by a rocket attack on his motorcade in south Lebanon launched from an Israeli helicopter gunship. Four weeks later, on March 17, 1992, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was car-bombed. Responsibility for the attack that killed 29 people was claimed by a group that identified itself as Islamic Jihad whose stated motive was retaliation for Israel's assassination of Abbas al-Musawi.
On July 18, 1994 a Jewish community center in Argentina was bombed (AMIA Bombing) killing 85 people. A Lebanon-based group called "Partisans of God" claimed to be the author of the attack, but the claim has been discounted. The Argentinean government formally charged Imad Mughniyah as a suspect in both attacks, and in October 2005, Argentinean courts formally charged alleged Hezbollah member Ibrahim Hussein Berro with the 1994 attack.
On July 19, 1994 a Panamanian flight was bombed in the (Alas Chiricanas bombing) leaving 21 people dead, including 12 Jews. The bombing was claimed by an unknown group called Ansar Allah.
On July 26, 1994 eight days after the AMIA Bombing in Argentina, a car bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy in London, injuring 14 people. Thirteen hours later a similar car bomb exploded outside a Jewish charity in North London.
Hezbollah outpost near
the Israeli border built
after the Israeli withdrawal.
On May 25, 2000, Israel withdrew from Lebanon to the UN-agreed Israeli border, and their pullout was certified by the UN as complete. However, Hezbollah claims the Shebaa Farms, a 28 sq. km. area, which is still occupied by Israel, to be Lebanese territory, and on that basis has continued to engage Israeli forces in that area. The UN recognizes the Shebaa farms as part of the Golan Heights, and thus occupied Syrian (and not Lebanese) territory.
Israeli aircraft continue to fly over Lebanese territory, eliciting condemnation from the ranking UN representative in Lebanon. Hezbollah's retaliatory anti-aircraft fire, doubling as small caliber artillery, has on some occasions landed within Israel's northern border towns, inciting condemnation from the UN Secretary-General. On November 7, 2004, Hezbollah responded to what it described as repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace by flying an Iranian-built unmanned drone aircraft over northern Israel.
Hezbollah abducted three IDF soldiers during an October 2000 attack in Shebaa Farms, and sought to obtain the release of 14 Lebanese prisoners, some of whom had been held since 1978. On January 25, 2004, Hezbollah successfully negotiated through German mediators Israel agreed on an exchange of prisoners. The prisoner swap was carried out on January 29: 30 Lebanese and Arab prisoners, the remains of 60 Lebanese militants and civilians, 420 Palestinian prisoners, and maps showing Israeli mines in South Lebanon were exchanged for an Israeli businessman and army reserve colonel kidnapped in 2001 and the remains of the three IDF soldiers mentioned above, who were killed either during the Hezbollah operation, or in its immediate aftermath.
On July 19, 2004, a senior Hezbollah official, Ghaleb Awwali, was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut. Hezbollah blamed Israel; credit was claimed, and then retracted, by a previously unheard of Sunni group called Jund Ash Sham, while Israel denied involvement.
According to Al-Arabiya, unidentified Lebanese police also identified the group as a cover for Israel. Israel alleges that Hezbollah had been increasingly involved in training and arming Hamas (see section in this article: Hezbollah activities in the al-Aqsa Intifada.) This claim has been strengthened by Nasrallah's own words. In 2001 Jordan arrested three Hezbollah members attempting to smuggle Katyusha rockets into the West Bank. Nasrallah responded that "it is a duty to send arms to Palestinians from any possible place." After Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Hezbollah attacked the IDF along the Blue Line. Most recently, during Awwali's funeral, Nasrallah proclaimed that Awwali was "among the team that dedicated their lives in the last few years to help their brothers in occupied Palestine", which some take to refer to aiding Hamas. On February 9, 2005 Palestinian Authority officials blamed Hezbollah of attempting to derail the recent truce between Israel and Palestine by offering increased funding and bonuses to the militant cells it operates in Israel for any attack they carry out.
On September 2, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1559, coauthored by France and the United States. Echoing the Taif Agreement, the resolution "calls upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon" and "for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias." Lebanon is currently in violation of Resolution 1559 over its refusal to disband the military wing of Hezbollah. Syria was also in violation of the resolution until recently because of their military presence in Lebanon.
On October 7, 2004 the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reported to the Security Council regarding the lack of compliance with Resolution 1559. Mr. Annan concluded his report by saying: "It is time, 14 years after the end of hostilities and four years after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, for all parties concerned to set aside the remaining vestiges of the past. The withdrawal of foreign forces and the disbandment and disarmament of militias would, with finality, end that sad chapter of Lebanese history."
The January 20, 2005 UN Secretary-General's report on Lebanon stated that "The continually asserted position of the Government of Lebanon that the Blue Line is not valid in the Shab'a farms area is not compatible with Security Council resolutions. The Council has recognized the Blue Line as valid for purposes of confirming Israel’s withdrawal pursuant to resolution 425 (1978). The Government of Lebanon should heed the Council’s repeated calls for the parties to respect the Blue Line in its entirety."
On January 28, 2005 UN Security Council Resolution 1583 called upon the Government of Lebanon to fully extend and exercise its sole and effective authority throughout the south, including through the deployment of sufficient numbers of Lebanese armed and security forces, to ensure a calm environment throughout the area, including along the Blue Line, and to exert control over the use of force on its territory and from it.
On January 23, 2006 The UN Security Council called on the Government of Lebanon to make more progress in controlling its territory and disbanding militias, while also calling on Syria to cooperate with those efforts. In a statement read out by its January President, Augustine Mahiga of Tanzania, the Council also called on Syria to take measures to stop movements of arms and personnel into Lebanon.
In December 2001 three Hezbollah
operatives were caught
in Jordan while attempting to bring in BM-13 Katyusha rockets into the
West Bank.
Syed Hassan Nasrallah secretary general of Hezbollah, responded that "It is every freedom loving peoples right and duty against occupation to send arms to Palestinians from any possible place."
During 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Israeli Security Forces thwarted numerous suicide bombing attacks, some of which Israel claims were planned and funded by Hezbollah and were to have been carried out by Tanzim (Fatah's armed wing) activists. Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of aiding Palestinian terrorism and participating in weapon smuggling.
On June 16, 2004, two Palestinian girls — aged 14 and 15 — were arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces for plotting a suicide bombing. According to an IDF statement, the two minors were recruited by Tanzim activists. On June 23, 2004, another allegedly Hezbollah-funded suicide bombing attack was foiled by the Israeli security forces.
In February 2005 the Palestinian Authority accused Hezbollah of attempting to derail the truce signed with Israel. Palestinian officials and former militants described how Hezbollah promised an increase in funding for any occupation resistance group able to carry out an attack on Israeli military targets. Since the May 2000 Israeli withdrawal, Hezbollah has continued fighting the IDF around the disputed 10 km²-Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Syrian border. Although the UN regards Shebaa Farms — 14 farms on the western slope of Mount Hermon, near the village of Shebaa — as Syrian territory, The Lebanese government and Hezbollah considers the area a part of Lebanon. The Shebaa farms were taken by Israel from Syria during the 1967 war. Syria was asked to notify the UN that it considered the Shebaa farms to be part of Lebanon, but no official statement was ever sent. Some argue that Hezbollah is being used by Syria and Iran as a proxy against Israel.
Hezbollah and the "Cedar Revolution"
After the assassination of Rafik Hariri in February 2005 Hezbollah strongly supported Syria through demonstrations. It is claimed that Hezbollah is "opposed" to the cedar revolution which resulted in Syria's withdrawal. Hezbollah, however, won the biggest number of representatives in its history during the national parliamentary elections of May 2005 and was asked to join the government in July 2005 in the name of national unity. Hezbollah still holds on to its weapons and the subject remains extremely controversial in Lebanon.
Hezbollah activities following the "Cedar Revolution"
During the months following (Hezbollah's main backer) Syria's April 2005 withdrawal from Lebanon, international and domestic pressure has mounted on Hezbollah to dismantle its military wing and become solely a political party. On November 21, 2005 Hezbollah launched a heavy attack along the entire border with Israel which was supposed to provide tactical cover for an attempt by a squad of Hezbollah special forces to abduct Israeli troops in the Israeli side of the village of Al-Ghajar. The attacked failed when an ambush by the IDF Paratroopers killed 4 Hezbollah members and scattered the rest. The IDF then responded with a heavy attack which destroyed Hezbollah's front line outposts and communication centers. The scope of the attack forced a rare request by Lebanon (whose army does not control southern Lebanon) for a cease-fire. Following the attack the UN Security Council denounced Hezbollah. Commentators have speculated that the attack was an attempt to draw Israel into renewed conflict in Lebanon, alleviating diplomatic pressure on its backers Syria (which is under investigation for the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri) and Iran (which is under UN investigation regarding alleged violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).
On December 27, 2005 Katyusha rockets fired from Hezbollah territory smashed into houses in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona wounding three people. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the Lebanese Government "to extend its control over all its territory, to exert its monopoly on the use of force, and to put an end to all such attacks". Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced the attack as "aimed at destabilizing security and diverting attention from efforts exerted to solve the internal issues prevailing in the country".
After the 2005 elections, Hezbollah held 23 seats (up from eight previously) in the 128-member Lebanese Parliament. It also participated for the first time in the Lebanese government that was formed in July 2005. Hezbollah has two ministers in the government, and a third is Hezbollah-endorsed. It is primarily active in the Bekaa Valley, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon. The group is headed by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and is financed largely by Iran and Syria, though it also raises funds itself through charities and commercial activities.
In spite of having a foot inside the government, Hezbollah has been frequently at odds with certain members of Fuoad Siniora's cabinet and in early 2006 formed an alliance with Michel Aoun (a former critic of both Hezbollah and Syria) and the Free Patriotic Movement. This new Shiite-Christian alliance aims at creating a new majority outside the 14 March forces and is likely to provide the basis for Aoun's presidency when Emile Lahoud's term expires in 2007.
Hezbollah is an active participant in the political life and processes of Lebanon, and its scope of operation is far beyond its initial militant one. In 1992, it participated in elections for the first time, winning 12 out of 128 seats in parliament. It won 10 seats in 1996, and 8 in 2000. In the general election of 2005, it won 23 seats nationwide, and an Amal-Hezbollah alliance won all 23 seats in Southern Lebanon. Since the end of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon on May 22, 2000, Hezbollah has been involved in activities like building schools, clinics, and hospitals.
Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting America. However, on April 2, 2004, Muqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq. He is not known to have consulted Hezbollah or Hamas before making this statement.
Hezbollah has been accused of having links to Al-Qaida. Since September 11, 2001 Hezbollah's alleged links with al-Qaeda came under more scrutiny. American intelligence officials have stated they believe there has been contact between Hezbollah and low-level al-Qaeda figures that fled Afghanistan for Lebanon. Furthermore leading international Hezbollah militant Imad Mugniyah is said to have worked with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Many have suggested a broader alliance between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Such claims are doubted since Al-Qaeda's Wahhabist ideology considers Shiia Muslims infidels, which it has demonstrated in suicide bombings and attacks on Shiia targets in Iraq. Hezbollah has publicly denied having any ties with al-Qaeda. Furthermore, Zarqawi issued an audio recording where he called the party an enemy of Sunnis and a "shield" for Israel, referring to the party's manipulation of the Lebanese border with Israel.
In 2004 the Dutch internal security agency AIVD, concluded:
"Investigations have shown that Hezbollah’s terrorist wing, the Hezbollah External Security Organization, has been directly and indirectly involved in terrorist acts. It can also be concluded that Hezbollah’s political and terrorist wings are controlled by one coordinating council. This means that there is indeed a link between these parts of the organization. The Netherlands has changed its policy and no longer makes a distinction between the political and terrorist Hezbollah branches. The Netherlands informed the relevant EU bodies of its findings."
It is widely believed that Hafez al-Assad and Hezbollah were closely linked; this did not significantly affect his relations with the rest of the world. Bashar al-Assad, his son and successor, has been subjected to sanctions by the U.S. due to (among other things, such as occupying Lebanon) his continued support for Hezbollah, which it views as a terrorist organization. However, on March 3, 2005, the Bush administration stated that it would consider Hezbollah legitimate if it disarmed, but also said that this did not represent a change in their view of the organization, which is unlikely to do so.
Those who consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization consider its sponsors (in particular Iran, Syria, and Lebanon) to stand in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1566. Further, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calls for the dismantling of Hezbollah and all other militias. Israel has lodged continuous complaints about Hezbollah's actions. Israel has bombed several Syrian targets in retaliation for terrorist and guerrilla attacks by Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah that Israel claims were sponsored by Syria. An Israeli official said that those attacks are a "message to Syria to stop sponsoring terrorism".
The organization views an Islamic republic, on the Iranian model, as the ideal and eventual form of state. However, as their conception of an Islamic republic requires the consent of the people, and Lebanon remains a religiously and ideologically heterogeneous society, their political platform revolves around more mundane issues. According to their published political platform in 2003, Hezbollah claims to favor the introduction of an Islamic government in Lebanon by peaceful democratic means.
Hezbollah supports the destruction of the state of Israel and co-operates with other militant Islamic organizations such as Hamas in order to promote this goal.
Hezbollah operates a satellite television station from Lebanon, Al-Manar TV ("the Lighthouse") as well as a radio station, al-Nour ("the light"). Qubth Ut Alla ("The Fist of God") is the monthly magazine of Hezbollah's paramilitary wing.
Al Manar broadcasts news in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew and is widely watched both in Lebanon and in other Arab countries. Its transmission in France (even via satellite, not by any station based on French territory) is controversial. It has been accused of promoting religious and racial hatred (against Jews), which is a criminal offense in France. On December 13, 2004, the French Conseil d'État, acting on the request of the French TV authorities, issued an injunction to Eutelsat to cease the broadcasting of Al Manar in France.
The Hezbollah Central Internet Bureau in 2003 released a video game titled Special Force, intended to simulate Arab-Israeli conflicts from an Arab perspective.
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight more during a dawn cross-border raid. The soldiers were taken to an undisclosed location. Israeli forces crossed into South Lebanon and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, vowed revenge on the captors. Hezbollah leader later called for talks on prisoner exchange which was officially rejected by Olmert. However it is widely believed that negotiations are underway with Egypt as mediator. Israel said it held the Beirut government responsible for the attack, but Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denied any knowledge of the raid and refused to take responsibility for the capture.
Shortly after 6 a.m. on July 13, 2006, Israeli jets fired three rockets into runways at Beirut International Airport in a Hezbullah-controlled part of the Lebanese capital Beirut (accusing the airport of being used by the "Hezbullah terrorist organisation" to transport arms.)
Israeli warplanes bombed all three runways at the airport and flights were diverted to Cyprus.
The main terminal of the airport remained intact. In addition, Israeli jets bombed highways and bridges in Southern Lebanon, as well as several Hezbullah targets.
Specifically, an Israeli missile hit Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV studios in southern Beirut. A station official said that one person was hurt but broadcasts continued. An Al-Manar transmission antenna that hit near Baalbek stopped transmissions in that area. Bombs also hit a civic center attached to a Shiite mosque near the town of Baalbek. The attack was Israel's most intense air campaign against Lebanon in 24 years.
Israel also announced a naval blockade of Lebanon. Hezbollah responded by firing rockets into the northern Israeli towns of Safed, Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona, and Karmiel. The rockets hit one home killing an elderly woman.
Hezbollah officials claimed they used a rocket called Thunder 1 for the first time. The missiles were alleged to be more accurate than the traditional Katyusha rocket used by Hezbollah.
The Israeli army said several rockets had landed more than 12 miles south of the border, showing that Hezbollah had managed to extend its missiles' range.
See also
Hezbollah and Israel - the situation escales
Lebanon timeline
Hezbollah
Hamas
Fatah
Should we be nice to radical Islam?
Leaderless resistance
Israel
Hamas in power and how to deal with it
Hamas makes strong showing in vote
The Hamas Covenant
Hamas, the PA and money
Israel gambles
Israel loosing support
Israeli army practices condemned
What about Iran and Israel?
An amazing or shitty little country?
The Muslim Brotherhood Project
The Barrier
"Splash him"
Yanks out of control?
NatWest Hamas Interpal
Aid threat to Hamas Election victors