The deadly skirmishes on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon have raised the prospect of a broader conflict in the Middle East, as the Hezbollah armed group has fired artillery and rockets in solidarity with Palestinians.
As Israel pummels the Gaza Strip with air strikes in the wake of deadly attacks by the Hamas armed group, fear of another front in the north is growing with an exchange of fire between Israeli and Hezbollah fighters. On Monday, the Iran-backed group fired a barrage of rockets after three of its members were killed in Israeli bombardments.
Here is what we know about Hezbollah:
Hezbollah, meaning “Party of God”, is an Iran-backed Shia armed and political group that was formed in 1982 to fight Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon.
It emerged from the armed groups formed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The group, which finds its support among Shia Muslims, is one of Israel’s biggest foes in the region.
In 2021, leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed Hezbollah had 100,000 fighters. The group boasts precision rockets and says it can hit all parts of Israel.
Link from www.aljazeera.com