I cannot make it a short explanation, but I will attempt to summarize some of the political, religious and historical issues as well as current events.
The UN resolution, UNSCR 1559, required Israel to withdraw their troops, and in return the Lebanese government agreed to disarm Hezbollah. Israel withdrew their troops in 2000. To date Lebanon has taken no action against Hezbollah, and in doing so has allowed Hezbollah to strengthen their position in the south.
In the first days of the conflict Israel bombed Hezbollah militia forces and strongholds which were situated in southern Lebanon (mostly in civilian areas). More recently, Hezbollah's militia forces are mainly operating from their underground bunkers.
Hezbollah is Arabic حزب "hezb" means party and الله "Allah" is the Arabic (not Muslim only) word for God. Therefore, Hezbollah means the Party of God. Hezbollah are fighting in jihad/qitl fee sybil Allah (jihad/killing in the path of God.) In the Qur'an this type of jihad is mandatory for a Muslim.
Hezbollah is an umbrella organization of Shiite Muslims founded in early 1982 to combat Israeli, French and American troops stationed in Lebanon. Iran and Syria supply Hezbollah with funding, weapons and training. Syria admits supporting Hezbollah, but denies arming the group.
Hezbollah has complex objectives. This war will cost it dearly, but it has been preparing for this for a generation
Hezbollah bridges the deep division between Syrian secularity and Iranian religiosity. Syria's interests and Iran's interests differ. Hezbollah's interests differ from those of its patrons.
Hezbollah has business interests in legal and illegal businesses around the world. It has interests within Lebanese politics and it has interests in Palestinian politics. As a Syrian client, it looks at the region as one entity. As an Iranian client, it looks to create a theocratic state in the region.
Hezbollah’s official rhetoric calls for the destruction of Israel and its replacement with an Islamist Palestinian government. Sinilarly, Hezbollah sought to replace Lebanon’s secular government with an Iranian-style Islamic government.
What Hezbollah wants is political power in Lebanon and among the Palestinians, and freedom for action within the context of Syrian-Iranian relations.
As an entity in its own right, Hezbollah must keep itself going. If it can avoid utter calamity, it will have won -- if not by defeating Israel, then by putting itself first among the anti-Israeli forces. It is the most effective force opposing Israel. Hezbollah's job is to survive and hurt Israel and the IDF as long as possible. That is what this war is about for Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has pursued a political and religious agenda that centers on the destruction of Israel and opposition to the United States and that has been carried out through terrorism against Israeli and Western targets. (In 1983 Hezbollah killed 241 US marines in Beirut.)
Hezbollah are Shiite Muslims as are most Lebanese, Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians and some Yemenis, Pakistanis and Bahrainians. Diplomatic efforts are aimed at getting the Sunni Muslim countries to negotiate. This includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Hezbollah is not the government of Lebanon
Hezbollah's spiritual leader is Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, and its senior political leader is Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah (nicknamed Abu Hadi). Its military arm is known as Islamic Resistance.
After Syria withdrew its trooops, Hezbollah was able to step into the power breach created by Lebanon’s weak secular government. Hezbollah gained popular support by providing social services such as hospitals and schools for Lebanese Shiites.
The war began at Hezbollah's time and choosing. Military analysts say that the way the Israel-Hezbollah war has been prosecuted up to August 1st, was more likely to bring Nasrallah closer to his war objectives than Olmert. Hezbollah does not need to defeat Israeli troops. It only has to survive the onslaught.
Hezbollah gains from maximizing civilian casualties on BOTH the Israeli and Lebanese sides.
Hezbollah maximizes Israeli civilian casualties when they launch Syrian and Iranian designed antipersonnel missiles with ball-bearing shrapnel. Furthermore, in Lebanon, Hezbollah deliberately operates military wings out of densely populated areas to maximize Lebanese casualties and gain media attention through gruesome pictures of maimed children.
IDF video clips available on MFA website
The footage shows Hizbullah's firing of rockets from Kafr Qana and behind buildings, and the use of civilians as human shields: Hezbollah missile fire from within the village of Kafr Qana, Hezbollah firing rockets from behind buildings, Hezbollah use of civilian shields.
Hezbollah's Operation True Promise on July 12, was a forray into Sha'ba farms, an area which is claimed by both Lebanon and Israel. Hezbollah killed 4 Israeli soldiers and captured two others (Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev). The kidnappings presented a serious problem for Israel, but could not, by themselves, define the geopolitical issue. That definition came when Hezbollah rockets struck Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, on July 13. There were also claims coming from Hezbollah, and confirmed by Israeli officials, that Hezbollah had missiles available that could reach Tel Aviv. Israel's population is concentrated in the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem corridor and in the Tel Aviv-Haifa corridor. In effect, Hezbollah had attained the ability to strike at the Israeli heartland. Hezbollah has been hitting the northern part of this heartland, as well as pounding Israel's northern frontier.
According to reports, Hezbollah forces are dispersed in multiple bunker complexes and are launching rockets from these and other locations. Hezbollah strategy is to draw Israeli troops as deeply into Lebanon as possible, forcing them to fight on extended supply lines. Hezbollah's will tie down the Israelis as long as possible first in the area south of the Litani River and then north in the Bekaa. It can, and will, continue to rocket Haifa from further north. It will inflict casualties and draw the Israelis further north.
In order to destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure, Israeli troops must move into the Bekaa Valley and as far as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israeli forces have pushed forward from the mountaintop village of Maroun er Ras captured Sunday to the fringes of Bint Jubeil, Hezbollah’s south Lebanese capital. After losing at Bint Jubeil, Hezbollah abandoned conventional fighting, fled underground and re-emerged as a guerrilla group, inflicting casualties on the Israelis wearing them down.
In a military engagement just over the border of Lebanon Israeli soldiers of the Egoz regiment discovered one of the many fortified bunkers holding the large arsenal of missiles currently raining upon Israeli towns in the North. Hezbollah is using Viet Cong-style guerrilla warfare out of hundreds of small bunkers scattered across the country. In addition, Hezbollah borrowed camouflage techniques that the Japanese used in the 1945 Iwo Jima battle. In the first ten days of the war, therefore, the Israeli air force bombed out empty Hizballah premises in South Beirut and Baalbek, but missed the moving woods and vegetation which concealed the rocket launchers.
Hezbollah rockets struck Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, on July 13. Hezbollah has mainly been using Kassam and Ketyusha rockets to bombard northern Israel. With support and funding from Iran and Syria, Hizbullah set up a complex military infrastructure in Lebanon, including a wide range of ground-to-ground rockets, with assorted capabilities: 9 km (107 mm diameter Katyushas), 21 km (122 mm Katyushas or Grads), and 45-75 km (240 and 333 mm Fajr-3’s and Fajr-5’s). In addition, it appears that Hizbullah possesses long-range rockets that can hit most of Israel’s large cities, including Gush Dan. (These are the Zelzal or Nezaat rockets, with a range of 130-180 km.)
On July 17 Hezbollah used an Iran-made radar-guided C-802 shore-to-sea missile of the Silkworm family to disable the Israeli Saar-5 state-of-the-art warship, Ahi-Hanit, which was shelling Beirut airport. Four Israelis were killed, but the ship was brought back to base under its own power, repaired and returned to service. On July 18 Hezbollah used a longer range missile which it calls, Khaibar-1 (after Mohammed’s battle with the Jews of Medina). This is probably one of the Zelzal missiles. It has not yet used its Fajr missiles. Hezbollah has indicated that it will bombard Tel-Aviv, Israel with 500 missiles.
On Tuesday, August 1st, Israeli forces partially destroyed the Dar al-Hikma hospital in Baalbek, where chief Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal said fierce fighting raged for more than one hour. Hezbollah used automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and fought the commandos inside the hospital, while Israeli jets attacked the surrounding guerrilla force with missiles, Rahal said. Residents said the Dar al-Hikma hospital is financed by an Iranian charity that is close to Hezbollah and run by people close to the group. There were no patients in the hospital. It had become a base of Hezbollah, in disguise. IDF forces battle in the southern Lebanese
Hezbollah stronghold village of Kafr Ita al-Sha'b. Hezbollah's wave of Katyushas began abruptly around 11 AM, and continued into the afternoon hours.
The United States Government is an ally of Israel. Israel purchases armaments from the US. Condolezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, was sent by President George Bush to encourage leaders in the Middle East to negotiate a peace agreement. President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have called for a United Nations resolution designed to stop the fighting and establish an international stabilizing force on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Syria - On Friday, July 28, Hezbollah's leader, Nazrallah, attended a conference in Damascus. Also in attendance were Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal and Mussa Abu Marzouk as well as the Palestinian Jihad Islami chief Abdallah Ramadan Shelah. The Palestinian terrorist leaders were invited in their capacity as commanders of the second front against Israel in Gaza. This anti-Israel coalition will no doubt decide on the two fronts’ next steps in their war against the “Zionist enemy.” The fact that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called the meeting in his capital at Damascus, indicates that he and the other participants feel confident enough to decide on a further escalation of the violence.
On Friday, July 28, Syrian air defense batteries ambushed and shot down an Israeli spy drone flying on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria. These drones have been used to “paint” the weapons convoys heading in from Syria, for the Israeli air force to hit them before they can reach their destinations and replenish Hezbollah stockpiles. This time, the Syrians knocked the drone out of the sky to allow a large consignment of rocket launchers and truckloads of rockets to cross into Lebanon undetected and safe from Israeli air attack.
On August 7th it was revealed that Hezbollah's rocket offensive against Israel is orchestrated from a rear command located in the Syrian town of Anjar. The command which coordinates the pace of those attacks is located at the Anjar base of the Syrian Army’s 10th Division opposite the Lebanese town of Az Zabdani. It is manned by Iranian and Hizballah officers, who take their orders from a Syrian military intelligence center in Damascus to which Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers are attached. It is headed by a general from one of Syria’s surface missile brigades. This joint command is provided with the most up-to-date intelligence and electronic data available to Syria on targets in Israel and IDF movements. The timing and tempo of Hizballah rocket strikes are set according to that information.
To keep the rockets coming without interruption, the joint Hizballah-Syrian-Iranian command is also responsible with keeping Hizballah supplied with an inflow of rockets and launchers. They use smuggling rings to slip the supplies into Lebanon by mule and donkey which ply the 5,000-7,000 feet mountain paths that straddle the Syrian-Lebanese frontier.
Iran just admitted that it supplied Hezbollah with Zelzal-2 missiles. This fact was known a long time ago and it was one of the objectives of the Israeli Defense Forces to destroy those missiles. The IDF has successfully ferreted out many of the missiles from the underground bunkers and destroyed them. Hezbollah not gotten authority from Iran to use the longer range Fajr missiles against Israel.
On July 29, 2006, the London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published a detailed article on assistance extended to Hezbollah by Iran's
Revolutionary Guards, as reported by a high-ranking Revolutionary Guards officer who had trained Hizbullah naval units. According to
the officer, Hizbullah has a diver unit and a naval commando unit. He further claims that Revolutionary Guards officers assisted Hezbollah
in the July 14, 2006 firing of a C802 missile at an Israeli Navy ship, and had also helped Hizbullah construct underground facilities including command and control rooms which are being operated by Revolutionary Guards officers along with Hezbollah fighters.
In addition, Iranian news agencies have published a number of reports about groups of Iranian volunteers sent to Lebanon to aid Hezbollah
in its fight against Israel.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the man to watch these days. Leaders of the Iranian hard-line regime, believe they have a direct line to God, and they'll do whatever 'divine inspiration' requires them to do. Talking to them is pointless. Ahmadinejad, whose proxy army Hezbollah is now waging war against Israel, has promised to respond to European and American demands to cease his country's illicit nuclear programs on August 22. On Tuesday he rejected a UN Security Council resolution that would give Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment.
Lailat al Miraj (27 Rajab, 22 August 2006)
The festival is celebrated by telling the story of how the Prophet Muhammad was visited by two archangels while he was asleep, who purified his heart and filled him with knowledge and faith.
According to Islamic tradition, the Prophet travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem in a single night on a strange winged creature called Buraq. From Jerusalem he ascended into heaven lighting up the skies over the holy city in his wake.
During his time in heaven Muhammad met the earlier prophets, and eventually God. He was told of the duty of Muslims to recite Salat (ritual prayer) five times a day.
It is important to understand some historical background. First almost all Muslim Arabs opposed the creation of the state of Israel. Not all of them supported, or support today, the creation of an independent Palestinian state or recognize the Palestinian people as a distinct nation. This is a vital and usually overlooked distinction that is the starting point in our thinking.
When Israel was founded, three distinct views emerged among Arabs.
The first was that Israel was a part of the British mandate created after World War I and therefore should have been understood as part of an entity stretching from the Mediterranean to the other side of Jordan, from the border of the Sinai, north to Mount Hermon. Therefore, after 1948, the West Bank became part of the other part of the mandate, Jordan.
There was a second view that argued that there was a single province of the Ottoman Empire called Syria and that all of this province -- what today is Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and the country of Syria -- is legitimately part of it. This obviously was the view of Syria, whose policy was and in some ways continues to be that Syria province, divided by Britain and France after World War I, should be reunited under the rule of Damascus.
A third view emerged after the establishment of Israel, pioneered by Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt. This view was that there is a single Arab nation that should be gathered together in a United Arab Republic. This republic would be socialist, more secular than religious and, above all, modernizing, joining the rest of the world in industrialization and development.
All of these three views rejected the existence of Israel, but each had very different ideas of what ought to succeed it. The many different Palestinian groups that existed after the founding of Israel and until 1980 were not simply random entities. They were, in various ways, groups that straddled these three opinions, with a fourth added after 1967 and pioneered by Yasser Arafat. This view was that there should be an independent Palestinian state, that it should be in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, extend to the original state of Israel and ultimately occupy Jordan as well. That is why, in September 1970, Arafat tried to overthrow King Hussein in Jordan. For Arafat, Amman, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were all part of the Palestinian homeland.
After the Iranian revolution, a fifth strain emerged. This strain made a general argument that the real issue in the Islamic world was to restore religious-based government. This view opposed the pan-Arab vision of Nasser with the pan-Islamic vision of Khomeini. It regarded the particular nation-states as less important than the type of regime they had. This primarily Shiite view was later complemented by what was its Sunni counterpart. Rooted partly in Wahhabi Sunni religiosity and partly in the revolutionary spirit of Iran, its view was that the Islamic nation-states were the problem and that the only way to solve it was a transnational Islamic regime -- the caliphate -- that would restore the power of the Islamic world.
The Sunni-Shiite fault line had become venomous. Tensions not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and Pakistan were creating a transnational civil war between these two movements. Iran was positioning itself to replace al Qaeda as the revolutionary force in the Islamic world and was again challenging Saudi Arabia as the center of gravity of Islamic religiosity.
Muslims want to rid the world of fitnah. Qutb, an Islamic scholar, writes that the world would be a utopia under Islamic theocracy. Islam is a political as well as a religious system.
Qur'an Surah Al-Anfãl (8):39 {Eng, Ar, transliteration}:
So fight them (unbelievers) until there is no more fitnah (disbelief or worship of any god but Allah) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone (in the whole world)" ... "And fight with them until there is no more fitnah (persecution) and religion should be only for Allah
وَقَتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ كُلُّهُ لِلَّهِ فَإِنْ انتَهَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
Waqatiloohum hatta la takoona fitnatun wayakoona alddeenu kulluhu lillahi fa-ini intahaw fa-inna Allaha bima yaAAmaloona baseerun
Allah commands deeds of terror by the believers against the unbelievers as the means of creating the emotion of terror in their hearts. The only reason needed for action is that "they resisted Allah and His Messenger". Such an approach to "conflict management" is nothing to be ashamed about according to Islamic understanding, but it is a basis for pride. According to Islam, it is one reason for the superiority of Muhammad over all other prophets.
Qur'an Surah Ãli-´Imrãn (3):151
We will throw terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, since they set up besides GOD powerless idols. Their destiny is Hell; what a miserable abode for the transgressors! (Khalifa trans.)
سَنُلْقِي فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الرُّعْبَ بِمَا اشْرَكُوا بِاللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِ سُلْطَنًا وَمَاوَهُمْ النَّارُ وَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى الظَّلِمِينَ
Sanulqee fee quloobi allatheena kafaroo alrruAAba bima ashrakoo biAllahi ma lam yunazzil bihi sultanan wama/wahumu alnnaru wabi/sa mathwa alththalimeena
Qur'an Surah Al-Anfãl (8):12-13
Recall that your Lord inspired the angels: "I am with you; so support those who believed. I will throw terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved. You may strike them above the necks, and you may strike even every finger. This is what they have justly incurred by fighting GOD and His messenger. For those who fight against GOD and His messenger, GOD's retribution is severe.(Khalifa trans.)
إِذْ يُوحِي رَبُّكَ إِلَى الْمَلَئِكَةِ أَنِّي مَعَكُمْ فَثَبِّتُوا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُوا سَأُلْقِي فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الرُّعْبَ فَاضْرِبُوا فَوْقَ الْأَعْنَاقِ وَاضْرِبُوا مِنْهُمْ كُلَّ بَنَانٍ
ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ شَاقُّوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقْ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
Ith yoohee rabbuka ila almala-ikati annee maAAakum fathabbitoo allatheena amanoo saolqee fee quloobi allatheena kafaroo alrruAAba faidriboo fawqa al-aAAnaqi waidriboo minhum kulla bananin. Thalika bi-annahum shaqqoo Allaha warasoolahu waman yushaqiqi Allaha warasoolahu fa-inna Allaha shadeedu alAAiqabi
Qur'an Surah Al-Anfãl (8): 59-60
Let not the unbelievers think that they can get the better (of the godly): they will never frustrate (them). Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of God and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom God doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of God, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly. (Yusuf Ali trans.)
وَلَا يَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَبَقُوا إِنَّهُمْ لَا يُعْجِزُونَ
وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ وَمِنْ رِبَاطِ الْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُونَ بِهِ عَدُوَّ اللَّهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ وَءاخَرِينَ مِنْ دُونِهِمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَهُمْ اللَّهُ يَعْلَمُهُمْ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِنْ شَيْءٍ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ
Wala yahsabanna allatheena kafaroo sabaqoo innahum la yuAAjizoona. WaaAAiddoo lahum ma istataAAtum min quwwatin wamin ribati alkhayli turhiboona bihi AAaduwwa Allahi waAAaduwwakum waakhareena min doonihim la taAAlamoonahumu Allahu yaAAlamuhum wama tunfiqoo min shay-in fee sabeeli Allahi yuwaffa ilaykum waantum la tuthlamoona
Petroleum is not a natural resource of Lebanon. The Sidon terminal is the site of a large, mordern electrical power station and a modest petroleum importing terminal. Its natural resources are: limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, arable land.
Substantial receipts from donor nations stabilized Lebanese government finances in 2003, but did little to reduce the debt, which stands at nearly 170% of GDP. In 2004 the Hariri government issued Eurobonds in an effort to manage maturing debt. The downturn in economic activity that followed the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri has eased, but has yet to be reversed. Tourism remains below the level of 2004. The new Prime Minister, Fuad Siniora, has pledged to push ahead with economic reform, including privatization and more efficient government.
Dr. Ayman Zawahri (za WAH ri), is a leader of Al-Qaida, (Sunni Muslims). He has declared, as may other Muslim militant leaders, that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel meets the conditions for jihad fee sybil Allah and that it is incumbent for all Muslims to join the fight. Otherwise, there are many sectarian differences between the Sunni Al-Qaida Muslims and the Shiite Hezbollah Muslims. However, for the cause in Lebanon they may join forces to fight against Israel.
Qur'an Sura Al-Qasas (28):39 {Eng, Ar, transliteration}:
Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them; (Shakir trans.)
Permission to take up arms is given to those against whom war is made, because they have been wronged and ALLAH, indeed, has power to help them (Sher Ali trans.).
- أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ
Othina lillatheena yuqataloona bi-annahum thulimoo wa-inna Allaha AAala nasrihim laqadeerun
Qur'an Surah al-Hujurat (49):15
Mumim (true Muslims) believe in Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and without doubt they strive in the cause of Allah( jihad fee Sybil Allah) with their wealth and their lives. Those! They are the sincere.
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ ءامَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا وَجَهَدُوا بِأَمْوَلِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الصَّدِقُونَ
Innama almu/minoona allatheena amanoo biAllahi warasoolihi thumma lam yartaboo wajahadoo bi-amwalihim waanfusihim fee sabeeli Allahi ola-ika humu alssadiqoona
It is irrelevant to judge who is right, and who is wrong. No one wins in a war. Property can be restored, but even a lifetime is not long enough to resolve grief over a lost loved one.
Since Muslims, Jews and Christians believe in the messiah, maybe praying for the messiah to come and bring lasting peace before the world destroys itself would be a win-win-win solution