Hezbollah and Beyond. Decoding Iran’s destabilising influence in the Middle East

Feb 10, 2024 by Jill

by Lord Ashcroft, Conservative Home:

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Houthis in Yemen, militias in Syria and Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon – what do all these terrorist groups have in common? The backing of the Iranian regime. It is an open secret yet, as Naftali Bennet, a former Prime Minister of Israel put it, “inexplicably, almost nobody is touching it.”

As global attention focuses on the dynamics of the region, particularly amid escalating tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, Hezbollah emerges into the spotlight. This formidable group operates as a proxy for Iranian power in Lebanon.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 marked a seismic shift in the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, as Iran sought to extend its influence across the Islamic and Arab world. Imam Khomeini’s revolution against the Shah Regime in Iran wasn’t merely a political coup; it traces back to the Muslim Brotherhood’s doctrine, aiming to spread extremist Islamist ideology worldwide. Iran aimed to become a dominant force in the Islamic world, challenging Western powers and Sunni-majority states’ influence.

The revolution envisioned spreading its principles, emphasising anti-imperialism and opposition to Israel throughout the region. This ideological foundation laid the groundwork for Iran’s interference in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries, particularly Lebanon.

One of the primary vehicles for this expansion has been Hezbollah, a Shia militant group based in Lebanon. In 1982, an intelligence brief came to the attention of the then President of Lebanon, Amine Gemayel, informing him of the arrival of personnel from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon (near the Syrian border). They aimed to recruit Shia militants for the Islamic Revolution’s regional expansion plans.

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Read also: The Dangerous Global Order with a Nuclear Armed Iran by Majid Rafizadeh, Gatestone Institute