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No Separation in Hezbollah Political and Military Wings

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah mocks the EU’s misunderstanding of the inseparable nature of the party’s military and political branches.

A poster of Mohamed Hassan Shehade, a Hezbollah fighter who died in the Syrian conflict, hangs on a building in Adloun town, south of Sidon in southern Lebanon, July 23, 2013. The European Union agreed on Monday to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on its terrorism blacklist, a move driven by concerns over the Lebanese militant group's involvement in a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria and the Syrian war. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho    (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CRIME LAW) - RTX11W1Q
A poster of Mohamed Hassan Shehade, a Hezbollah fighter who died in the Syrian conflict, hangs on a building in Adloun, south of Sidon in southern Lebanon, July 23, 2013. The European Union agreed to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on its terrorism blacklist, a move driven by concerns over the Lebanese militant group's involvement in a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria and the Syrian war. — REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah rose through the ranks of the party's military wing all the way to its top spot. It is the same wing that the European Union recently included on its terrorism blacklist. This fact sheds light on the reasons Nasrallah does not accept the EU’s logic that the party is comprised of two wings: one military and one political.

Throughout the phases of Hezbollah's existence, since its inception in the early 1980s, there are no indications that the party distinguishes between its military, security and political wings. The first and second generations of Hezbollah belonged to an environment that worked in three overlapping areas: security, politics and the military. Currently, members of these two generations control all aspects of the party's leadership. Based on their mentalities, it would be possible for them to draw a distinction between officials from the stated three wings. 

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