Hizbullah's Adventure in Syria

(Wall Street Journal Europe) Daniel Nisman - Hizbullah's ambitions stretch far beyond protecting Lebanon's once-demeaned Shiite community. Hizbullah is a political Islamist organization that seeks to export its version of Shiite Islam throughout Lebanon and the greater Muslim world. The Iranian Revolution enabled the group's emergence as an anti-Western military force in the early 1980s. The resemblance of Hizbullah's emblem to that of Iran's Revolutionary Guard is no coincidence. Hizbullah is now providing tactical support and training to thousands of Assad forces deploying to Aleppo. Hizbullah's adventure in Syria has captured the attention of the Sunni-dominated countries that are looking to oppose Iran's regional influence and also fear that Hizbullah may establish militant proxies within their own Shiite communities. Meanwhile, the European Union continues to fumble over whether or not to blacklist Hizbullah as a terror group, which would do untold damage to the group's financial operations across the Continent.


2013-06-21 00:00:00

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