Hezbollah

Hezbollah ("Party of God") is a Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, political party and armed group founded in 1982 with Iranian backing. It is designated a terrorist organization, in whole or in part, by the US, Israel, the EU and others.

Hezbollah (Arabic for "Party of God"; formally the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist movement that functions simultaneously as a political party, a social-services network and a heavily armed paramilitary force. It emerged around 1982 amid Israel's invasion of Lebanon, organized and trained with support from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and set out its ideology in a 1985 "Open Letter."

Headquartered in Beirut, the group runs the Al-Manar television station and an extensive network of schools and clinics, and sits in parliament through its Loyalty to the Resistance bloc. Its longtime secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the group's Beirut headquarters on 27 September 2024; Naim Qassem was appointed secretary-general on 29 October 2024.

Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization—in whole or in part—by the United States, Israel, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others. Its disarmament is a central, contested issue in Lebanon; the Lebanese government banned its military activity in March 2026 amid renewed conflict with Israel.