AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT HIZBALLAH: THE SURVIVAL OF GROWTH by MARCUS BURKE HALLINAN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon July 2016 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT THESIS, DISSERTATION, PROJECT RELEASE FORM Student Name: Hallinan Marcus Burke Last First Middle Master’s Thesis Master’s Project Doctoral Dissertation I authorize the American University of Beirut to: (a) reproduce hard or electronic copies of my thesis, dissertation, or project; (b) include such copies in the archives and digital repositories of the University; and (c) make freely available such copies to third parties for research or educational purposes. I authorize the American University of Beirut, three years after the date of submitting my thesis, dissertation, or project, to: (a) reproduce hard or electronic copies of it; (b) include such copies in the archives and digital repositories of the University; and (c) make freely available such copies to third parties for research or educational purposes. __________________________________________________ Signature Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first would like to thank my family, my mother, Kelly, father, Gerald, Jesse, Emily, Lola and Cali, who had been supportive of this life changing decision to attend the American University of Beirut in 2013. I could not have done it without you. Thank you and I love you. I would also like to thank Catherine Batruni for the countless proof readings of this paper, responding to my endless questions and for being a truly great friend. Last, I would like to thank Dr. Hilal Khashan for his guidance throughout this thesis, as well as Dr. Danyel Reiche and Dr. Samer Frangie for taking the time to contribute their knowledge to making this paper the best it could be. v AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Marcus Burke Hallinan for Master of Arts Major: Political Studies Title: Hizballah: The Survival of Growth. This thesis examines how Hizballah has evolved from its revolutionary goal of creating an Islamic state in Lebanon to becoming a significant actor in both Lebanese politics and regional affairs. The methodology of this thesis utilizes an approach that extracts four common characteristics of revolutionary groups and applies the four common characteristics to Hizballah. From these four characteristics I derive four assertions. First, Hizballah is composed of political, economic and socially marginalized people in Lebanon. Second, Hizballah was forced to revise its ideology and change its behavior to construct more realistic goals that would allow them to remain a legitimate entity and retain power and support. Third, after Hizballah achieved its more realistic goal, it sought to remain in power by modifying its ideology, behavior and goals once more, resulting in a loss of support. Finally, Hizballah was used as a proxy force. In addition to highlighting these four phases pertaining to Hizballah, an early history of the Shia in Lebanon is provided to supply the essential foundation on which Hizballah was built upon. This study concludes that Hizballah had in fact evolved in a prototypical manner in accordance with these four assertions, with the exception of losing vast amounts of support following the Israeli withdrawal in 2000 up until 2008. Furthermore, Hizballah has become so adept in maintaining power that it has become the hegemon in Lebanon—this phenomenon closely resembles the purportedly negative features Hizballah was originally established to combat. Finally, this thesis suggests that any future evolutionary stage Hizballah undergoes will almost certainly involve the group maintaining its weapons, as Hizballah will not voluntarily relinquish them in the near future. vi CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... v ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................ xi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 A. Why Hizballah? ............................................................................................. 1 B. Significance ................................................................................................... 2 C. Outline ........................................................................................................... 4 II. THE FOUNDATION OF HIZBALLAH .................................... 7 A. Introduction ................................................................................................... 7 B. Shia in Lebanon ............................................................................................. 7 C. Oppression and Persecution ........................................................................... 8 D. Political and Economic Marginalization ....................................................... 11 E. Political Mobilization .................................................................................... 15 F. Militarization ................................................................................................. 19 G. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 22 III. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 23 A. Formation ....................................................................................................... 24 B. Ideological Evolution .................................................................................... 26 1. Party Shifts .................................................................................. 26 vii 2. Group Shifts................................................................................. 28 C. Remaining in Power and Losing Support ...................................................... 29 D. Proxy Usage ................................................................................................... 32 E. Methodology .................................................................................................. 35 IV. THE RADICALIZATION PHASE (1982-1985) .................. 38 A. Introduction ................................................................................................... 38 B. Operation Peace for Galilee ........................................................................... 38 C. Hizballah ........................................................................................................ 40 D. Al-Dawa’s Influence ...................................................................................... 43 E. Foreign Sponsors ........................................................................................... 45 1. Iran .............................................................................................. 45 2. Syria ............................................................................................ 48 F. Radicalism ..................................................................................................... 50 1. Radical Islam .............................................................................. 50 2. Radical Violence ......................................................................... 52 a. Hostage Taking ............................................................. 53 b. Suicide Bombing .......................................................... 54 G. Hizballah’s Open Letter ................................................................................. 58 H. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 60 V. FOCUSING ON FIGHTING ISRAELI OCCUPATION AND ENTERING POLITICS (1986- 2000) ............................................................................................................. 61 A. Introduction ................................................................................................... 61 B. Shifting the Fight toward Ending the Israeli Occupation .............................. 61 1. Amal vs. Hizballah ..................................................................... 61 2. Tehran Concedes Lebanon to Damascus .................................... 64 3. Syrian-Hizballah Relations ......................................................... 65 4. Legitimizing the Fight against Israel .......................................... 67 C. 1992: Hizballah Enters Lebanese Elections .................................................. 69 viii 1. Election Results .......................................................................... 71 D. 1990s: Hizballah-Israeli Confrontations ........................................................ 73 1. 1993: Operation Accountability .................................................. 73 2. 1996: Operation Grapes of Wrath ............................................... 75 E. 1990-2000: Tactics to Defeat Israel ............................................................... 78 1. Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) ......................................... 79 a. Media ............................................................................ 79 b. Direct Threats ............................................................... 80 c. Katyusha Rockets ........................................................