Hezbollah's focus more regional

Thursday, December 14, 2006
Al-Qaida is not the only terrorist organization at work in the Middle East.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the incoming House Intelligence Committee chairman, also flunked a question on Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has goals that are more regional than global. It primarily opposes Israel and the Lebanese ruling party in Beirut.

Hezbollah is a Shiite organization that has operated in southern Lebanon since the 1980s. It gained notoriety in 1983 by organizing a suicide attack against U.S. and French soldiers that killed more than 300.

Since that time most of its military energy has been aimed at driving Israel from southern Lebanon through small ambushes and terrorist attacks. Israel withdrew its forces in 1990.

The peace didn't hold. Israel launched a war again this year in response to the continued attacks and a Hezbollah kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah continues to operate in southern Lebanon as a military force and gains support from civilians through administering social programs. It is believed to be funded by Iran, and its influence is feared by the ruling government in Beirut.

"They are fundamentalist and want to govern Lebanon according to the Quran," said terrorism expert Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux of Saint Louis University.

--TJ GREANEY