In response, Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets into northern Israel, raising concerns that the fighting in Gaza may launch a regional battle on a larger scale.
How did Hezbollah come to be and has it ever attacked Israel?
Hezbollah is a powerful armed Shia Muslim political organization.
It commands the strongest armed force in the nation and is heavily represented in both the parliament and government of Lebanon.
In opposition to Israel, whose forces had occupied southern Lebanon throughout the nation’s 1975–1990 civil war, Hezbollah gained notoriety in the 1980s.
Iran has long provided it with substantial financial and military support. Additionally, it is a powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The armed branch of Hezbollah has attacked US and Israeli forces in Lebanon with fatal results.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for driving Israeli troops out of Lebanon in 2000, and the group still objects to Israel’s presence in disputed border regions.
Hezbollah’s fatal cross-border raid in 2006 set to a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli forces moved into southern Lebanon in an attempt to neutralize Hezbollah’s threat. During the fighting, almost a thousand civilians lost their lives, but Hezbollah declared victory and has since expanded its combat force and improved its arsenal.
