In the ancient Greek myth, the Furies were relentless deities of vengeance, punishing those who had committed heinous crimes. Today, in the Middle East, the spectre of retribution looms large as Israel and Hezbollah, the Shia militant group backed by Iran, inch perilously close to unleashing their own furies upon one another.
The Israel-Hezbollah conflict, long a simmering powder keg, now threatens to destabilize a region already teetering on the edge in the wake of Israel’s mortal combat with the militant Palestinian faction Hamas in Gaza.
Despite the intense military engagement last week (August 24-25), with Israel, in a pre-emptive strike, deploying 100 jet fighters in a seven-hour assault over 40 targets, the toll has been relatively light.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appear to have been careful to minimize civilian casualties in Lebanon - a stark contrast to their heavily censured approach in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has emphasized that, while Israel remains committed to the complete dismantling of Hamas, it has no desire for an existential battle with Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s involvement in the recent escalation began on October 8 last year, when the group launched rockets at Israel in support of Hamas’s attack the day before.
Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has since continued to engage in attacks from the north, and other Iranian proxy groups have also participated in these operations in solidarity with Hamas.
Unlike other militant groups (like ISIS) that have had their genesis in a destabilizing Middle Eastern incident, Hezbollah’s rise during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90) and its staying power have been remarkable by all accounts.
As historian David Crist observes in his 2012 book The Twilight War, Hezbollah (meaning ‘Party of God’) was born out of the crucible of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, moulded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and united by a shared vision of Islamic resistance.
For this shadowy band of ‘Allah’s stormtroopers,’ a portentous alliance struck with the Assad family of Syria in the early 1980s was to have momentous consequences for the region.
At that time, Syria, under the leadership of Hafez al-Assad, sought to consolidate Syrian influence over Lebanon - a goal that aligned with Hezbollah’s objectives of resisting Israeli occupation and establishing a Shia-dominated political order in Lebanon.
The Assad family’s support for Hezbollah was strategic: by backing the group, the Assads not only extended Syria’s influence over Lebanese affairs but also created a powerful proxy that could challenge Israeli hegemony in the region.
As Crist observes, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad had initially refused transit to many Revolutionary Guardsmen Khomeini’s revolution in neighbouring Iran held little appeal for him.
But after the IDF under Ariel Sharon instigated the fight with the Syrian army during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, al-Assad opened the floodgates for Khomeini’s bearded foot soldiers to strike back.
‘Hezbollah’ would be born of this kernel of two dozen men who were the vanguard of 800 Iranian Revolutionary Guards sent to this base in the fertile eastern Lebanese valley. Over the next coming years, these fighters morphed from a small guerrilla band into a major political party in Lebanon, one whose military wing eclipsed that of the Lebanese army.
They staved off the region’s most powerful military—Israel—in two wars, and in one precise bombing inflicted the largest tactical defeat on the U.S. military since the Korean War.
Over the years, it has evolved from a guerrilla force into a formidable military and political power, entrenched in Lebanese society. The 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which left over 1,000 Lebanese and 165 Israelis dead, marked a turning point. Though Israel managed to deal a severe blow to Hezbollah’s infrastructure, the group emerged politically stronger, its narrative of resistance bolstered in the eyes of many in the Arab world.
The alliance with the Assad family was further cemented during the 2011 Syrian Civil War, when Hezbollah emerged as a crucial ally of Bashar al-Assad, Hafez’s son and successor. The group’s involvement in Syria was driven by both ideological and practical considerations. Ideologically, Hezbollah’s commitment to the Assad regime was rooted in its shared opposition to Sunni extremism and its alignment with Iran’s broader regional strategy. The group’s military intervention, including its participation in key battles such as those in Qusayr and Aleppo, helped turn the tide in favour of the Assad regime.
Despite strenuous efforts of both Israel and the US in trying to decapitate Hezbollah, it has emerged as a hydra-headed monster. (The Mossad is reputed to have assassinated Hezbollah’s brilliant, phantom-like military tactician Imad Mughniyeh in 2008, yet this has not slowed down the militant group).
With Iran activating its proxy. the danger of Israel-Hezbollah skirmishes escalating into a broader regional conflict cannot be overstated as any large-scale conflict could potentially draw in other regional powers, including Iran and Syria into a Middle Eastern Armageddon.
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