The militant Lebanese Shia Group Hezbollah (Party of God) has evolved into the largest and most professional terrorist groups in the Middle East. The political wing has been successful at placing several representatives in the Lebanese Parliament while the military wing has been training, recruiting, fighting and conducting terrorist attacks within the Levant and globally against U.S., Israeli and European interests. Since 2000, the popularity of the organization has continued to grow throughout southern Lebanon and Beirut since the evacuation of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and its recent victory in the 2006 war with Israel. Though seldom discussed, a major factor in Hezbollah's success is the use of the social services section. Hezbollah's social service program is vital to the success and survival of the organization. This monograph examine the history of Lebanon and the evolution of Hezbollah, the organizational structure, funding sources and methods and social service achievements will provide a systemic understanding of how the organization morphed from a resistance movement into a state-less government that meets the needs of the Lebanese Shia population. The analysis includes aspects of the organization's structure, funding sources and methods and its achievements in providing social services. This monograph addresses how Hezbollah's social service model, by which it gained popular support and became a significant bloc in Lebanon's legislature, may be emulated by other Islamists organizations in obtaining political legitimacy. Hezbollah's success has not gone unnoticed by the global jihadist/insurgent community. Hezbollah has proven to be adaptive and flexible in their strategy but have maintained a consistent strategic view. Though Hezbollah is apparently not attempting to export the Islamic revolution, the organization has inspired Islamic minded groups like Turkish Hezbollah, who have adopted the name but have no affiliation with Lebanese Hezbollah. Turkish Hezbollah is predominantly Kurdish and is fighting to establish an Islamic government within Turkey. Hezbollah has cells in Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia. Most are focused on fund raising but others, like the cell in Argentina that attacked the Israeli embassy, are designed to conduct terrorist attacks against U.S. and Israeli interests. Fledgling Hezbollah cells use the same methods used in Lebanon: they use subtle infiltration techniques to gain access to an area without drawing attention, they gain the trust of the populace by conducting charity fund raising activities, establishing trust enables them to recruit within the local populace and then allowing the cell to begin operations. Cells would not be able to operate without building a popular support base. Hezbollah's social service heavy model has proven to be successful in advancing the party's political/military goals and Iran's strategic objectives. Hezbollah established a solid popular support base by leveraging the needs and injustices of the Lebanese Shia. The popular support base enabled the organization to transform from its social service dominated roots to an influential political party supported by a professional guerilla army. Hezbollah was created in the image of the Iranian Islamic revolution and has inculcated Iranian Islamist ideology that calls for the destruction of Israel and exporting the revolution globally. It can be argued that the Hezbollah model cannot be exported due to the unique circumstances that the organization was created and cannot be replicated. However, the basic tenants of the model are universal and are reflected in modern insurgency theorists like Mao Tse-Tung, Che Guevara and David Galula. They all follow a similar pattern that weighs the support of the populace the highest followed by guerrilla warfare and ending in political revolution. The danger is that the Hezbollah model is unique, proven and exportable.

ADA499513 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)