Hezbollah Leadership Organization
Nasrallah is an iconic figure to millions of Lebanese Shia. His fiery speeches evoking shariah and ji- had contribute to the cult of personality that surrounds him. He was born in southern Lebanon and wears the black turban that signifies bloodline descent from the Prophet Mohammed. Nasrallah was educated in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
The Hezbollah leader is viewed as a tough, charismatic leader whose own son, Hadi, was killed in ac- tion against the Israelis in 1997. He lives under multiple layers of security in the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut and is seldom seen in public for fear of Israeli assassination operations and rose to Hezbollah leadership in 1992 after Israeli forces killed his predecessor, Sheikh Abbas Musawi. He earned the sobriquet of “the man who never lies,” because of his record of turning military success against the Israeli Defense Forces into political gains for Lebanese Shiites.
Hezbollah is run by the Executive Shura headed by Secretary General Nasrallah, who manages the group’s day-to-day activities and makes all decisions related to financial, judicial, military, political, and social issues. The Consultative Council is comprised of 12 key figures among the Hezbollah leadership and meets on a weekly basis to discuss current matters. There is also a Supervisory Committee, or Politburo, comprised of 15 select Shiite clergy members, that conveys Consultative Council dictates to Lebanon’s regional areas and coordinates propaganda and support services at the local level.
Thanks to an annual infusion of funding from Iran that amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars, Hezbollah operates civil defense centers, clinics, hospitals, and schools across Shiite areas of Lebanon other- wise underserved by the central government. Hezbollah has been exceptionally adept at developing a grass- roots network and insinuating itself into Lebanese society.
Hezbollah runs youth groups, scout troops, and summer camps that inculcate hatred of Jews, infidels and Americans from the earliest ages. In addition, it also provides physical and weapons training to children in preparation for later military service. The legendary loyalty of Hezbollah’s fighters is inspired in part through absolute guarantees to care for its injured members and the families of the fallen, to educate their children, and to provide lifelong pensions to their widows.
Hezbollah’s “social” and “charitable” activities do nothing to diminish its jihadist agenda and terrorist operations. They not only serve to promote dawa and recruit new adherents to shariah; they serve as a visible form of taqiyya as well. Specifically, these activities are calculated – and shrewdly used – to blur the hard edges of its identity in the eyes of a poorly informed and credulous international community.
One indication of the success of such deflections is, as noted below,296 that even the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued – albeit under the guise of a plausibly deniable “Red Team” study – a paean to Hezbollah in May 2010. The paper suggested that because, among other considerations, Hezbollah has been so successful in translating its social services into a popular following, a change in U.S. government policy to-
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wards the organization is now warranted, with a view to expressing American-support for the Party of God’s integration into the Lebanese political mainstream.
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Comment on Legal Mafia Evidence by Julius
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