On July 26, 2006,
The Heritage Foundation hosted Patrick Clawson, Aaron Mannes, and
Daniel Pipes to discuss the current Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Heritage’s Ariel Cohen chaired the event. The panel analyzed
Hezbollah’s national and transnational status, Iran’s involvement
in the fighting, and Israel’s strategic challenge in confronting
its most powerful Arab enemy. This paper summarizes the panelists’
discussion.
Hezbollah was
founded in 1982 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and elements of
Iranian intelligence to fight the U.S. and Israel. Over the past 25
years, it has remained a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran.
Two factors are
the keys to Hezbollah’s rise: killing its rivals and Iranian
support. After murdering hundreds of U.S. and French peacekeepers
in 1983, Hezbollah targeted domestic opponents and decimated Amal,
its rival for power in Shi’a Lebanon.
