OVERVIEW

Lebanese Hizballah flag

Lebanese Hizballah is a political, military, and terrorist organization capable of conducting attacks worldwide. The group is committed to preserving its strategic partnership with Iran, bolstering the Syrian regime, and maintaining its own domestic power in Lebanon in addition to opposing Israeli interests and driving US forces from the Middle East. Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO)—also known as the External Security Organization or Unit 910—is a highly compartmented unit that is primarily responsible for overseas terrorism operations, including against Western targets.

Hizballah views Israel and the United States as its principal adversaries and has been implicated in operational activity in the Homeland. Since 2017, FBI has arrested three IJO operatives—all of whom were US citizens—in the United States on terrorism and criminal charges.

OPERATING AREAS
Operates throughout Lebanon with relative impunity; has also worked with Iranian officials to provide training and other military support to Shia militants in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen; has conducted lethal attacks globally.

MEMBERS
Approximately 40,000 fighters

TACTICS AND TARGETS
Hizballah has state-like military capabilities, including air defense systems; antiship, antitank, and precision-guided missiles; rockets; and unmanned aircraft systems. Hizballah is proficient in a range of asymmetric and conventional tactics, including ambushes, assassinations, bombings, indirect-fire attacks, kidnappings, and other undercover operations. Hizballah’s IJO has a history of caching—storing items at unspecified locations for future use—explosives precursors, such as ammonium nitrate, and maintains attack infrastructure in various countries to support future operations.

FOREIGN TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US State Department designated Hizballah as a foreign terrorist organization in October 1997. More than 60 other countries and organizations, including the EU, the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, have also designated Hizballah—either in part or in its entirety—as a terrorist group.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACKS