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Hezbollah has aForeign Relations Unit (Arabic:وحدة العلاقات الخارجية,romanized: Wahdat al-‘Ilāqāt al-khārijiyya) and maintains relations with a number of foreign countries and entities.[1] These are particularlyShia states, but alsoSunni groups like those affiliated with the Palestinian cause; and the group is also suggested to have operations outside the Middle East in places such as Latin America[2][3] andNorth Korea.[4]
Hezbollah has especially close relations withIran,[5] with the formerAlawite leadership inSyria, specifically with PresidentHafez al-Assad (until his death in 2000) and his son and successorBashar al-Assad (until he was otherthrown in 2024),[6] and has sent fighters in support of Assad in theSyrian Civil War. Hezbollah declared its support for the now-concludedAl-Aqsa Intifada.
There is little evidence of ongoing Hezbollah contact or cooperation withal-Qaeda.[7] Hezbollah's leaders deny links to al-Qaeda, present or past.[7][8] Al-Qaeda leaders, such as formeral-Qaeda in Iraq leaderAbu Musab al-Zarqawi,[9] consider Shia, which most Hezbollah members are, to be apostates, as do Salafi-jihadis today.[10][11]
The9/11 Commission Report, however, found that several al-Qaeda operatives and top military commanders were sent to Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon in 1994.[12]
Position of the UN
UN Security Council Resolution 1559, calls for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanesemilitia",[2] echoing theTaif Agreement that ended theLebanese Civil War, but does not explicitly include Hezbollah[13][14] althoughKofi Annan has advanced this interpretation.[15][16] The Lebanese Government[17] and Hezbollah dispute the application of this resolution to Hezbollah, referring to it as a "resistance movement" and not a militia.Israel has lodged complaints about Hezbollah's actions with the UN.[18]
The UN'sDeputy Secretary-General,Mark Malloch Brown, contests characterisations of the Lebanese militia as a terrorist organisation in the mould ofal-Qaeda.[19]While acknowledging that "Hezbollah employs terrorist tactics,"[20] he says that it is unhelpful to call it a terrorist organization; the United States and the international community, in his view, would do well to respect it as a legitimate political party. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some in the United Nations who deny that Hezbollah's military activities against civilians are terrorist in nature at all.[21][22]
In a 20 July 2006 article, scholarFred Halliday wrote that SheikhNaim Qassem, deputy leader of Hezbollah under SheikhHassan Nasrallah, told him Hezbollah follows Iran's leadership as a matter of principle.[5]
In an interview onAl-Arabiya TV in Dubai, former Hezbollah Secretary-GeneralSubhi al-Tufayli said: "Hezbollah definitely fosters its relations with the Syrians, but Hezbollah's real leadership is 'the rule of the jurists'."[23]
Though Hezbollah presence in Syria was limited before 2012, Damascus had been the most important facilitator of Iranian support to the group and became increasingly active as a provider of material and political assistance on its own in the 2000s.[24]
Beginning in 2012, Hezbollah aided theBa'athist Syrian government during theSyrian Civil War in the fight against the rebels, which Hezbollah has described as a Wahhabi-Zionist conspiracy to destroy its alliance with Syria against Israel.[25][26]
According to Israeli authorEhud Yaari, Hezbollah's presence and strategy in Lebanon is a model forHamas in terms of military, political, and media operations.[28] The two groups share common tactics and common goals.[29] According to Israeli military analysts, Hezbollah has assisted Hamas in producing "[more] lethal bombs."[30] After the start of theal-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, Hezbollah's leader Nasrallah declared his organization's support for theintifada supported by thePLO, Hamas,Islamic Jihad, and other organizations.[31] Hezbollah began also to broadcast "continuous" anti-Israeli propaganda into Palestinian homes on itsal-Manar television station, a tactic that reportedly led to the Hezbollah station becoming widely watched in Palestinian homes.[32]
There is no concrete evidence of Hezbollah contact or cooperation with al-Qaida. US and Israeli counter-terrorism officials claim that Hezbollah has (or had) links toAl Qaeda, although Hezbollah's leaders deny these allegations.[34] United States intelligence officials alsospeculate there has been contact between Hezbollah and low-level al-Qaeda figures who fledAfghanistan for Lebanon.[35][36][37][38][39]Ali Mohamed testified that Hezbollah trained al-Qaeda operatives on how to use explosives.[40] In addition, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda cooperate through money laundering, smuggling, and document forgeries.[40] Some American newspapers have suggested a broader alliance between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and theIranian Revolutionary Guard.[41]
On the other hand, others point out that al-Qaeda's Sunni ideology is fundamentally incompatible with Hezbollah's relatively liberal brand of Shia Islam; in fact, someWahhabi leaders and al-Qaeda members consider Hezbollah to beapostate.[10]There was afatwa issued several years ago byAbdullah Ibn Jibreen, a former member ofSaudi Arabia's Council of Senior Ulema, which describes Hezbollah as "rafidhi" – a derogatory term for Shiites used by some Sunni fanatics. Even during2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict it was cited by some hardline Sunni Muslim clerics and others writing on Islamist website.[11]
Al-Qaeda has demonstrated its distaste for Shi'as in suicide bombings and attacks on Shi'a civilian targets in Iraq.[42] Hezbollah denies any ties toal-Qaeda[43] and al-Qaeda leaderAbu Musab al-Zarqawi has issued an audio recording in which he called Hezbollah an "enemy of Sunnis."[9] Saint Petersburg Times, ABC News, and MSNBC report that there exists no evidence of a connection between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.[44][45] Nasrallah has denied links to al-Qaeda, present or past, stating in a 2002 interview that the two groups work in different areas and face different enemies. Hezbollah's aim has been to confront, and ultimately destroy, Israel, while bin Laden has focused on Afghanistan, Bosnia, and the former Yugoslavia.[7]
Michel Samaha, Lebanon's former minister of information, has said that Hezbollah has been an important ally of the government in the war against terrorist groups, and described the "American attempt to link Hezbollah to al-Qaeda" to be "astonishing".[46]
As part of a surge of intersectarian support for Hezbollah during the2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict,Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's deputy leader, called for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Zionists and join the fighting in Lebanon.[8][47]
Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting the United States. On 2 April 2004, Iraqi cleric andMahdi Army founderMuqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq,[49] and Mahdi senior member Abu Mujtaba claimed they were choosing 1,500 fighters to go to Lebanon.[50]
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement
There have been American claims that Hezbollah has engaged in joint operations with the Sunni[51] Palestinian militant groupPalestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.[52] The Islamic Jihad Movement has sent "its gratitude to the brothers in Hezbollah, the Islamic resistance in South Lebanon. Particularly Hassan Nasrallah, for their stance and support, be it financial, military or moral support".[53]
In July 2013, the European Union designated the armed wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The foreign ministers of all 28 EU countries agreed to the decision which was based on concerns over Hezbollah's role in the2012 Burgas bus bombing and the organizations involvement inSyrian civil war supporting theBa'ath government.[65]
A few of the EU member states have imposed partial or complete prohibitions on Hezbollah. TheNetherlands proscribed the organisation fully,[66][67] while theUnited Kingdom has proscribed Hezbollah's paramilitary External Security Organization, but not the organisation's political wing.[68] On 25 February 2019 the UK parliament announced that it would introduce new rules to classify Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organisation as "UK authorities say they are no longer able to distinguish between the group's military and political wings."[69] A 2018researchArchived 16 June 2019 at theWayback Machine initiative found strong links between Hezbollah and illegal activity in Germany and this garnered a substantial response from the German public, asking to condemn Hezbollah's political wing as well. Germany banned Hezbollah entirely 30 April 2020.[70]
Drone smuggling investigation
In April 2025 a multinational investigation uncovered a Hezbollah logistics network operating across Europe, involving Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[71][72][73] This network facilitated the procurement of drone components, enabling the assembly of potentially hundreds of explosive-laden drones.[74][72][73]
The investigation started inCatalonia, Spain, where theCivil Guard identified suspicious purchases of materials associated withunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production. These materials included electronic guidance systems, propulsion propellers, gasoline and electric engines, and raw materials for drone bodies and wings. Authorities estimate that the seized components could have been used to assemble hundreds, potentially thousands, of drones capable of carrying several kilograms of explosives.[71][72][73] On July 14, 2024, coordinated efforts between Spanish and German authorities led to the arrest of four suspects: two inBarcelona, one in nearbyBadalona, and another inSalzgitter, Germany. The suspects were accused of acquiring materials that could be converted into weapons targeting civilian and military sites in Israel and Europe.[71] Subsequent arrests occurred in April 2025, with three more suspects detained in Barcelona and additional individuals are in custody in France and the United Kingdom.[71] The components seized match those found in drones used by Hezbollah against Israel, highlighting the group's extensive international supply chain. The investigation underscores the challenges European security services face in disrupting such clandestine networks.[75][76]
The dismantled network was involved in purchasing and exporting critical drone parts to Hezbollah in Lebanon.[77][71] The components seized matched those found in drones launched by Hezbollah towards Israel, indicating a direct link between the European network and militant activities in theMiddle East.[71]
The successful operation involved collaboration among various European intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including Spain's Civil Guard, Germany'sFederal Criminal Police Office (BKA), France'sGeneral Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), and the United Kingdom's counterterrorism units. The coordinated efforts reflect a unified stance against the proliferation of terrorist networks and the illegaltrafficking of military-grade components.[71][72]
Switzerland
CitingSwiss neutrality, Switzerland does not regard Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Its government only uses the Sanctions List provided by theUnited Nations.[78]
In December 2024, the SwissFederal Assembly voted to ban Hezbollah.[79] Swiss government opposed the move and the motion to ban is still to be implemented by the government.[80]
Cyprus
In a televised interview in June 2024, Nasrallah threatened to attackCyprus if it allowed Israeli military access to Cypriot airports and bases.[81]
Attitude of Israel to Hezbollah
Dan Gillerman, the Israeli representative at UN, referred to Hezbollah as a "cancerous growth" that must be removed.[82]
The Israeli Government considers the use of military force in Lebanon as a legitimate means of isolating Hezbollah.[83]
Relationship with other countries and organizations
Hezbollah has been accused of training Iraqi insurgents to attack U.S. troops during the Iraq War.[84]
The British government has claimed that theProvisional Irish Republican Army had relations with Hezbollah and that the IRA provided the group with technology that was used against British forces in Iraq.[85]
TheUnited States has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation and sanctioned it. In December 2019, theUS Treasury sanctioned individuals it claimed were Hezbollah financiers,[95] and again, in May 2022, it announced sanctions on Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah, a Lebanese businessman and the Iranian-backed group's financial facilitator, as well as his companies.[96]
On 11 March 2016, theArab League designatedHezbollah a terrorist organization during a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers at the organization's headquarters inEgypt's capitalCairo. Nearly all 22 Arab League members supported the decision, exceptLebanon,Syria,Algeria andIraq which expressed "reservations" about the decision.[97] In June 2024, the Arab League's Deputy Secretary General Gossam Zaki announced they have ceased referring to Hezbollah as a 'terrorist organization'.[98] He later added that his words were "interpreted out of context",[99][100] while noting that the league "does not resort to labeling entities as terrorist organizations and does not adopt such lists."[101]
Designation as a terrorist organization
The following entities have listed the entire organization Hezbollah as a terror group:
^Ha'aretzArchived 17 August 2008 at theWayback Machine 14 August 2008,UN: We've cleared half the cluster bombs Israel dropped on Lebanon By Shlomo Shamir
^Kirchner, Magdalena (2016).Why States Rebel. Understanding State Sponsorship of Terrorism. Opladen: Barbara Budrich. pp. 220–230.ISBN978-3-8474-0641-9.
^Nasrallah, Sayyed Hassan (2007). Noe, Nicholas; Blandford, Nicholas (eds.).Voice of Hezbollah: The Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. London:Verso. p. 231.ISBN978-1844671533.
^"The Al-Qaida-Hizballah Connection". Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. 26 February 2006. Archived fromthe original on 19 August 2006. Retrieved26 July 2006.
^Norman FinkelsteArchived 26 September 2007 at theWayback Machine Reuters, 2 August 2006 "Reuters interview with Israeli PM Olmert", by Matthew Tostevin, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "All the population which is the power base of the Hezbollah in Lebanon was displaced. They lost their properties, they lost their possessions, they are bitter, they are angry at Hezbollah and the power structure of Lebanon itself has been divided and Hezbollah is now entirely isolated in Lebanon"
^Kirchner, Magdalena (2016).Why States Rebel. Understanding State Sponsorship of Terrorism. Opladen: Barbara Budrich. pp. 220–30.ISBN978-3-8474-0641-9.