Hamas and Hezbollah: the terror around Israel
Around the Gaza Strip there have been numerous actions, conflicts and wars between many different actors. The latest has taken place this year, between Hezbollah and Israel, due to police actions during the beginning of Ramadan, although on other occasions there have also been various attacks by Hamas. In this context, both organisations have a number of elements that differentiate them from traditional guerrilla groups, including a defined structure and modus operandi.
Both are characterised by a clear example of proxy warfare, in which both entities receive orders, funding and even support from other countries: from Lebanon in the case of Hamas, and from Iran in the case of Hezbollah1, since it is currently much more practical not to engage in direct military intervention, but to support local elements that carry out attacks.
The name Harak al-Muqawama al-Islamiya can be translated as Islamic Resistance Movement and its origins date back to 1987, during the 1987 Intifada (or Palestinian uprising) against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, after splitting from the Islamic organisation Muslim Brotherhood.
Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian Sunni cleric (died 2004), was its founder and spiritual leader. The organisation eventually became a powerful rival to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the dominant Palestinian organisation for decades. Today, it has surpassed the PLO and is the largest Islamic group among the Palestinian people.
Since then, the group has split into two branches, each with its own objective: one, the military wing, formed by the Qassam Brigades, is responsible for the armed struggle against the state of Israel, whose existence it does not recognise; and the other, the political wing, which seeks to play a prominent role in Palestinian society by providing social services such as building schools, hospitals and religious spaces.
The current leader of the organisation's political wing is Ismail Haniyeh; since 2007, in the Gaza Strip, he has headed its political office and last year met on Lebanese soil with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah (a Lebanese-based terrorist group) to discuss diplomatic normalisation between Israel and Arab countries2.
Besides, the top military leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was involved in founding Hamas's military wing, the Ezedin al-Qasam Brigades, and the Majd, the internal security apparatus set up to hunt down Gazans who might be in contact with Israel.
Tensions between Hamas and Israel have risen to a fever pitch in recent years: the simultaneous celebration of the first day of Ramadan (the holy month for Muslim worshippers) and Memorial Day in Israel on April 13 saw the first clashes and riots spread throughout Israel, especially in the Gaza Strip.
In the last month, international society has witnessed the brutal confrontation between the two contenders: from Palestine, Hamas launched more than 2,300 Qassam missiles and Israel was able to nullify them through its state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defence system.
The self-styled Hizbu-'llah or "Party of God" emerged in 1980 with the conflict to expel Israeli troops from Lebanon. This Shi'a terrorist organisation is notably linked to the Republic of Iran (which allegedly funds it with $200 million per year) and operates in Israel, Lebanon, Syria and even Yemen.
The vast army and military capacity of this organisation is a major power in the country. Its paramilitary area is made up of 65,000 soldiers and a large number of weapons with more than 80,000 missiles of Iranian origin that are smuggled into the cities, especially south of the Litani River, which, de facto, serve as military bases. According to some estimates by intelligence agencies in the region, 2 out of 10 buildings in southern Lebanon hide rockets inside them. The US State Department itself has called it "the most technologically capable terrorist group in the world"3.
This extremist movement has a television network, hospitals and drones. It is one of the most influential parties in Lebanon (with only 12 seats out of 128), a large social and religious (Shia) movement. "Its secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, is the country's warlord, putting in and taking out governments"4.
Its power of influence in various regions of the world is such that it has been able to carry out attacks outside its theatre of operations, including the car bombing of the Jewish association in Buenos Aires in 1994 and the attack on Burgas airport in Bulgaria in 2012.
Hamas and Hezbollah are characterised by different visions of the same faith and come from different territories, but they are also united by the fact that they control their own territory and the populations living in it (practically setting themselves up as parallel states seeking to extend their power throughout the region), their desire to wipe out Israel, their funding from Iran and their contempt for other Arab countries, which they consider apostates because of their truces with Israel (despite the fact that Hamas leader Haniye lives in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where he has lived for years)5.
ABoth have been harshly criticised by most Arab states for not being ordinary nations because, despite having extensive means (their own armed forces, political power, media and defined borders), they are not legal and recognised nations. Especially when they use their territory as military bases for attack and their civilians as human shields or prefer to spend most of the money they receive on military and defence equipment rather than on providing social services.
To deal with this hybrid dual threat, the Israeli nation has developed a framework of warfare based on three key ideas: one of the world's largest defence industries, a population that is aware that it must perform compulsory military service, and a high defence capability for its entire territory.
The key to the superiority of this mentality is based on the combination of a highly developed intelligence system, through the Mossad and the IDF (its military intelligence) with great precision firepower that has been continuously improved6.
José Corrochano Ponte, Cybersecurity analyst and collaborator in the Defence area of Sec2Crime.
- Shipley, T. (23 octubre, 2017). “Guerra proxy, la guerra en tierra de otros”. El Orden Mundial. Extraído de: https://elordenmundial.com/guerra-proxy/
- Truzman, J. (2 de junio de 2021). “Todo sobre Hamás”. El Medio. Extraído de: http://elmed.io/todo-sobre-hamas/
- Levitt, M. “La era del Terrorismo”. Muy Interesante Actual. Diciembre 2016.
- Levitt, M. “La era del Terrorismo”. Muy Interesante Actual. Diciembre 2016.
- https://twitter.com/Political_Room/status/1393650116129591298
- Chaya, G. (26 de julio de 2018). “El conflicto de los “Estados paralelos” de Hamas y Hezbollah”. Infobae. Extraído de: https://datadipuy.com/el-conflicto-de-los-estados-paralelos-de-hamas-y-hezbollah/