In response to my recent post, a friend asked me to explain why Hezbollah is the enemy. Here are ten reasons:
1. Hezbollah has carried out more than 200 acts of terrorism, killing more than 800 people, including:
- a series of kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon, including several Americans, in the 1980s;
- the suicide truck bombings that killed more than 200 U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983;
- the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane’s pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head;
- two major 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina—the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy (killing twenty-nine) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing ninety-five).
2. Hezbollah does not submit to the government of Lebanon, but acts on its own initiative without any accountability to the Lebanese government, the United Nations, or any other recognized world body.
3. Hezbollah denies the right of Israel to exist and actively seeks Israel’s destruction. Its leader Nasrallah said in 1999, “Israel is an illegal usurper entity, which is based on falsehood, massacres, and illusions, and there is no chance for its survival.” Israel is an ally of the U.S.
4. The United States has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
5. Hezbollah’s founding and funding are closely related to Iran, which has been an enemy of the United States since 1979.
6. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 called on all Lebanese militia to disband. Hezbollah has refused to do so, and the Lebanese government has refused to enforce this.
7. Hezbollah has attacked Israel on its sovereign soil numerous times since Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
8. The deputy leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has called on Muslims to join Hezbollah’s fight against Israel. Al-Qaeda is an enemy of the United States and its attacks include the 9/11 attack on New York.
9. Hezbollah supports other terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
10. Hezbollah conducts warfare in a cowardly fashion, hiding behind a civilian population with no regard for the deaths of its own women and children.
In summary, Hezbollah is an avowed enemy of the United States and it should be completely destroyed. The United States should actively join in the campaign in southern Lebanon to wipe out this militia force. A ceasefire which allows Hezbollah to survive is against the interests of the United States.
Sources:
Wikipedia, Hezbollah
Wikipedia, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559
Council on Foreign Relations, Hezbollah