...Brent J. Talbot; Heidi Harriman Hezbollah has become a powerful yet destabilizing force in Lebanon, affecting internal stability, allowing Syria and Iran dangerous influence, delaying peace with Israel, and complicating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Moreover, it forces the United States...

...Zafer Kizilkaya This essay first examines how Lebanese Hezbollah's wars have changed the content and saliency of its several identities. It then focuses on the role of these identities on the group's moral conception of using force. The analysis includes Hezbollah's conflicts against Israel and its...

... of external steerage since 1972. Syria’s allies, most prominently President Lahoud and the Shiite religious radicals of Hezbollah, retained formidable capability, but they were on the defensive. The Hariri murder inquiry, and the prospective “tribunal of an international character” to try Hariri’s...

... in the current Leba- non crisis, issues that go well beyond the particulars of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Some of these problems are endemic to the Mediter- ranean region and its Middle Eastern hinterland, others not. Since Lebanon has monopolized more historical ink than most countries...

... is that the EFPs being used in Iraq are simi- lar in configuration and “signature” to the EFPs being used by the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since Hezbollah is assumed to be a surrogate of Iran, then the insurgents in Iraq must also be relying on Iran for support. There are problems with both of the arguments...

... that has weakened the insurgency. Finally, it assesses the role that Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah intervention has had in bolstering the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Syria's jihadist revolt has limited but important parallels to the failed 1982 Muslim Brotherhood insurrection. Even with the regime's...

...J. S. Krasna Reports of the demise of the Arab state have been exaggerated, despite claims that the postcolonial, state-based paradigm is collapsing under the pressure of “people power,” the resurgence of premodern loyalties, and the rise of nonstate actors. Even Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic...

...: in particular — despite long-standing emotional engagement — they kept a de facto political detachment from the fate of the Middle East, an atti- tude that Europeans simply can no longer afford. The violent clashes between Israeli and Hezbollah forces were the first major post-Iraq conflict...

... is an essay that focuses on the challenges facing the Middle East today from a theoretical base. “Identity, War, and Just Cause for War: Hezbollah and Its Use of Force,” by Zafer Kizilkaya, examines one of the basic issues confronting the region: what justifies a group’s decision to take up arms...

..., Hezbollah, but was supported and provisioned by the government of Iran. Its purposes were political rather than religiously driven, with Hezbol- lah intent on removing the US presence in Lebanon that it perceived as pro- Israel and anti-Shiite. Hezbollah assumed the Americans had already cho- sen sides...

.... Abdullah’s visit occurred at the time of intense battles in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel; his trip concluded just before a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities. While Abdullah was in Turkey, the Turkish govern- ment and media ferociously debated...

... the Lebanese Shiite clientele party of Hezbollah (founded in 1982) in an effort not only to expand Syria’s influence in Lebanon but also to mini- mize the Iraqi Baathist role in the Arab world and to counter anti-­Syrian activity at home. Hezbollah became a major force in Lebanon in the fight against...

... relations, and have not delimited their respective maritime boundaries. Since the Israeli-­Hezbollah conflict of 2006, relations between Lebanon and Israel have stabilized, with minimal military clashes. Nevertheless, Israel’s dis- covery of the Leviathan field has injected a relatively new point...

... such as Australia, Brazil, Japan, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and South Korea.16 Other NATO supporters, such as Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, believe NATO has a major role to play in the Middle East. In the immediate aftermath of the 2006 summer fighting between Israel and Hezbollah...

.... Lebanon is influenced by Israel, the Pal- estinians, Syria, Hezbollah, and, indirectly, by Iran. Iraq is influenced by Syria, Turkey, and Iran, among others. And so on. Simply said, there is no way of permanently solving an issue in the Middle East while ignoring another. This is why we need...

... allies, including, of course, Turkey. . . . The Turkish navy is minis- cule compared to ours. But its masters see America’s shrinking influence as a major power shift and a major opportunity. If Turkey’s navy becomes the passive supporter of shipping Iranian arms to Hezbollah [in Lebanon...

... security. Egypt’s decision to end its block- ade of the Rafa Crossing empowers Hamas and gives it renewed resources to wage militant strikes at Israeli targets. In addition, Hezbollah in Lebanon is presented with a new opportunity as a result of the Arab Spring. The pro-­ Iranian organization, which...

... by combatants. Throughout 2016, Netanyahu warned that Israel would not allow Hezbollah to open a new front against Israel.6 An extensive deployment of Hezbollah or Shiite militias along the Israel- Syria border would be seen as a serious threat by the Israeli government. On sev- eral occasions, the IDF...

...—while describing the Jihad as a national liberation group seeking to obtain legitimate goals of opposing an Israeli military occupation. Yet Syria has diminishing international support for its patronage of Islamic Jihad while Lebanon is coming under increasing pressure for allowing Hezbollah...

...- tion against Hezbollah in Lebanon). Finally, a clear Israeli victory was likely to contain Iran’s influence in the broad Middle East. It is too early to make any judgment on how successful Israel was in achieving these goals. What is clear, however, is that rocket and missile attacks have...