Three days after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, Hezbollah has now joined the fight.
The group launched a rocket and drone attack against a military base in Haifa, northern Israel, earlier today, spreading the conflict even further.
Hezbollah said the strike was in retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for nearly four decades.
Israeli jets hit back by bombing Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing 31 people and injuring 149, as well as at least 17 other southern towns.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah would pay a ‘heavy price’ for firing at Israel.
But what exactly is Hezbollah, and why has it got involved in the conflict?
Where is Hezbollah located? Its origins and military power
Hezbollah, Arabic for ‘Party of God’, is a Shi’ite Muslim militant group formed in the 1980s by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and backed by Tehran.
It aimed to fight Israeli forces who were occupying southern Lebanon during Lebanon’s lengthy civil war.
Enlisting people from the Shi’ite communities in Lebanon, it embarked on years of guerrilla warfare before Israel finally left the country in 2000.
Hezbollah’s military might grew, and in 2006 they crossed into Israel and kidnapped two soldiers and killed others, prompting a five-week war.
During the conflict Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into Israel, but Lebanon lost far more people, with 1,200 dying, compared to 158 Israelis, who were mostly soldiers.
Its military power increased even more after invading Syria in 2012 to help President Bashar al-Assad fight mostly Sunni rebels.
It boasts around 20,000 to 30,000 fighters – Hezbollah takes many steps to keep fighter identities a secret – as well 10s of thousands of rockets.
Its military wing elbowed into Israel’s war against Hamas, which controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza, just one day after the October 7 attacks.
The attacks brought the two sides closer than ever before to a full-scale war before a fragile truce was signed in 2024.
Israel had killed most of the group’s military and political leaders and has continued to carry out near-daily strikes on Lebanon since.
Who is the Hezbollah leader?
After Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah appointed Naim Qassem as its secretary-general. Qassem is a veteran his political activist and has been part of the group since 1991.
Hezbollah entered politics in 2005 after ally Syria withdrew from Lebanon following the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, who symbolised Saudi influence in Lebanon.
Members of its political wing, the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, shore up support from Shi’ites who see the group as defending the country from Israel.
In 2016, the Hezbollah-allied Christian politician Michel Aoun became president. Two years later, Hezbollah and its allies won a parliamentary majority.
This majority was lost in 2022, but the group continued to exercise a big sway, given its immense military power.
What is Hezbollah doing now? Why are they involved in the Iran war?
Projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israel overnight, causing no deaths or injuries, in an attack Hezbollah took responsibility for.
The group said: ‘The resistance leadership has always affirmed that the continuation of Israeli aggression and the assassination of our leaders, youth and people gives us the right to defend ourselves and respond at the appropriate time and place.
‘The Israeli enemy cannot continue its 15-month-long aggression without a warning response to halt this aggression and withdraw from the occupied Lebanese territories.’
Lebanon’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, distanced himself from Hezbollah, calling the attacks ‘irresponsible’.
Without naming Hezbollah, he said: ‘We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures.’
Hezbollah joining the battle was largely to be expected, given it’s one of Iran’s proxies – which can do the fighting on the country’s behalf – experts told Metro.
Dr Katayoun Shahandeh from the University of London, said: ‘To what extent they will be successful is the real question.
‘If neighbouring countries get fully involved, we are looking at the equivalent of World War III.’
Israel countered by pounding a residential area and Hezbollah stronghold on the outskirts of Beirut in the early hours, Dahiya, this morning.
At least 20 in Beirut’s flattened suburbs were killed, while 11 died in strikes on southern Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes have been launching airstrikes over southern Lebanon for most of today, according to the information ministry.
Terrorist designations
Western countries including the US designate Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.
So do US-allied Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia. The European Union classifies Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist group, but not its political wing.
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