Review
“This is a thorough study of Hezbollah.... The book is a valuable contribution to the study of Lebanese and Middle Eastern politics and Islamist and other liberation movement. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduate students through research faculty.”--Choice
“A detailed study by a true scholar-practitioner, Hezbollah from Revolution to Pragmatism should be required reading for anyone interested in really understanding this complex political, social and militant organization.”--Dr. Matthew Levitt, Director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Intelligence and Analysis.
“Terrorism experts and security agencies in the US and around the world agree that Lebanese Hezbollah is one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world. Hezbollah enjoy extensive Iranian financial and military support which paves the way for its terror and psychological campaigns. This book is by far the best book published for many years on Hezbollah. The author’s unique point of view which combines scholarly approaches with extensive field experience helps to comprehend the complex and dynamic relationship of the Hezbollah-Iran-Lebanon triangle. The book is a must read for decision makers, scholars, students and anyone who is interested in the nature of modern terrorism.”--Dr. Boaz Ganor, Koret Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Book Description
The Hezbollah movement is a product of the environment in which it operates and of the interactions as well as of the reciprocal relations between the players surrounding it. Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite movement with an affinity and a deep correlation with the Iranian system, yet it’s foundation stemmed from the development of social and political procedures in the Lebanese system, in general, and among the Shia sect, in particular.
As the movement expanded and became institutionalized, it turned more sensitive to the procedures and influences of the internal and the regional systems. On the regional and the international fields, it used a controlled policy which integrates guerrilla warfare and terrorist attacks while taking into account “profit and loss” considerations. The 2008 model of Hezbollah is one of a pragmatic terrorist organization that is far more dangerous than that of the revolutionary Hezbollah of the eighties. In fact, the movement hasn't abandoned its goals, but changed their pace of application.
