Israel strikes Hezbollah air defense assets in Baalbek, 100 km from the joint border, in response to Hezbollah shooting down an Israeli UAV.

Israel attacks the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut, assassinating Saleh Al-Arouri, one of Hamas's leading figures in Lebanon.

Hezbollah initiates a string of daily attacks along the Lebanese-Israeli border in support of Hamas's October 7 attack in Gaza.

Israel seizes crypto accounts linked to IRGC Quds Force and Hezbollah

Report reveals that French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian met with Hezbollah during a recent visit to Lebanon to discuss, exclusively, Lebanese domestic political issues.

Israeli media makes public news of the Hezbollah tents established inside the Israeli side of the Blue Line.

Argentina issues arrest warrant for 4 Hezbollah operatives in AMIA bombing

Hezbollah undermines twelfth attempted vote to elect a Lebanese president

Lebanese military tribunal formally accuses five members of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement of killing an Irish UNIFIL peacekeeper in 2022

Israeli news claims that airstrikes on Syria in May targeted a Hezbollah base where fighters connected to the so-called Golan File trained ahead of operations against Israel. The Golan File unit is a branch of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group that operates in southern Syria.
 

UAE frees nine Lebanese arrested over alleged Hezbollah ties after determining their innocence

Hezbollah stages a massive “war game” to demonstrate its armed strength

FPM head Gebran Bassil seeks common ground with anti-Hezbollah forces after rift with Shiite group over the presidency deepens

Nasrallah denies Hezbollah’s links to a drug kingpin killed in Jordanian airstrikes on Syria

U.S. Justice Department seizes 13 domains used by Hezbollah and its affiliates

Germany arrests two suspected Hezbollah members over 'recruiting activities’

A Hezbollah recruiter in southern Syria known as Abu Ali is said to resume his activities after Israel arrests one of his recruits

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says Hezbollah was behind a rare roadside bomb attack in Megiddo in March.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visits Lebanon’s border with Israel, praises Hezbollah

Ahmad Zahra, a resident of Jerusalem who reached out to Hezbollah in Lebanon and offered to spy against Israel for them, is convicted of spying for the group

An Indian citizen is arrested in London for funding Hezbollah

Pro-Hezbollah activists demonstrate along the Blue Line on Quds Day, forcing UNIFIL to intervene to disperse the protest

Hezbollah quietly sets up two military outpost tents inside the Israeli side of the Blue Line

A barrage of 34 rockets is fired from Lebanon into Israel by Palestinian militants, Israel retaliates but not against Hezbollah which is most likely to have facilitated the attack

Lebanese General Security Director Abbas Ibrahim tells Hezbollah’s Al-Ahed that he carried Nasrallah’s threats to U.S. Envoy Amos Hochstein during Lebanese-Israeli maritime border demarcation negotiations.

Bulgaria’s Supreme Court confirms the life sentence in absentia for two Hezbollah terrorists – Melad Farah, a Lebanese-Australian citizen, and Hassan el-Hajj Hassan, a Lebanese-Canadian citizen – for blowing up an Israeli tour bus in 2012 and killing five Israelis and the bus driver.

Omani team meets with Hezbollah in Lebanon on Yemen, Qatari delegation was expected to follow

Hezbollah suspected to have assisted Palestinian infiltrator from Lebanon who planted an explosive device on a highway in northern Israel’s Megiddo

Hezbollah officially backs Sleiman Frangieh – a rival of its former allies FPM, Gebran Basil, and Michel Aoun – for the presidency

Israel indicts two Syrians for spying for Hezbollah

The United States sanctions Paraguay former President Horacio Cartes and current Vice President Hugo Velazquez for, among other corruption issues, financial ties to Hezbollah.

The United States sanctions Lebanese money exchanger Hassan Moukalled and his businesses for alleged financial ties to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah reportedly builds 20 new observation posts along the Israel-Lebanon border.

After growing Hezbollah-Free Patriotic Movement rifts, Michel Aoun threatens to put the Mar Mikhael Agreement – inked between the two movements in 2006 – “in the trash bin.”

Lebanese military tribunal charges seven suspects affiliated with Hezbollah in killing of a UN Peacekeeper

Al-Akhbar discloses that a former Hezbollah member had been reportedly arrested in September of 2022 for spying for Israel

Wafiq Safa, a senior Hezbollah official,  remarks on the recent death of an Irish UNIFIL soldier at the hands of local Lebanese, saying the soldier died in an “unintentional incident,” and denying the group’s involvement.

U.S. sanctions two accountants in Lebanon, and two companies, for providing Hezbollah with financial services

A report which originally appeared in Al-Arabiya claims that Hezbollah is storing hundreds of chemical warheads at a warehouse in al-Qusayr, Syria, near the Syrian-Lebanese border, and would soon transfer them to Lebanon.

Alleged Israeli airstrike reportedly destroys a Hezbollah warehouse in Syria’s city of Homs

 

U.S. imposes sanctions on oil smuggling network backing Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah

The Swiss government comes out against banning Hezbollah, claiming hat the group is not very active in Switzerland, and such a ban would hamper Switzerland’s humanitarian missions, image as a neutral country, and impede the work of its security officials.

Israeli officials claim Israel succeeded in destroying “90% of Iran’s military operations in Syria,” including Hezbollah’s attempts to entrench itself, along with its patron, in the country, and to build up a weapons manufacturing capability in Syria.

A report in Reuters indicates that Lebanese officials allowed Hezbollah to scrutinize the Lebanon-Israel maritime border deal “line by line” before Beirut gave its final approval of the agreement. Hezbollah, according to the report “[gave] a crucial nod of acceptance,” allowing the deal to move forward, undercutting claims that the maritime border agreement harmed or undercut the group’s power or influence in Lebanon.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah welcomes Lebanon-Israel maritime border deal, and claims that his group prodded the Jewish state into accepting the agreement

Reports indicate Hezbollah approves of Lebanon-Israel maritime border deal

 

US Court orders Hezbollah to pay millions of dollars in damages to Americans alleging they were hurt by Hezbollah’s rockets during the group’s 2006 war with Israel

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatens Israel’s Karish Gas Field Amid Israel-Lebanon maritime border talks

Reports indicate that the Israel Defense Forces detects a limited withdrawal of Hezbollah and Iranian forces from Syria

Bomb detonates outside home of Lebanese caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh, who is backed by Hezbollah

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah meets with Hamas officials in Beirut, including sheikh Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of the group’s political bureau, and senior officials Khalil al-Hayya and Osama Hamdan, the report said.

After brief clash between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warns Israel against targeting Palestinian militants in Lebanon.

Hezbollah reinforcements arrive in Syria following ISIS attack on pro-Iran militia base

Report – Mossad investigation reveals that a Hezbollah unit carried out the terrorist attacks targeting Israeli and Jewish targets in Argentina in the 1990s, and that they were not aided on the ground by Iran.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz says Hezbollah is working with Hamas to develop military ties and deepen Hamas's control of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Hezbollah deploys three drones towards Israel’s Karish gas field, which the Israel Air Force shoots down. Israel says the drones did not pose any imminent threat. A video released by Hezbollah, ostensibly showing its drones recording the offshore installations at Karish, is revealed to be stolen footage from a promotional video by the rig’s owner, Energean.

United States hosts​​​​​​​ 30-country meeting on countering Hezbollah, which included Diplomats, law enforcement officers and intelligence experts from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE, in addition to European and Latin American countries.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz says Hezbollah and Iran tried to carry out a cyberattack on UNIFIL to gain information about the peacekeeping force’s activities.

Report claims that a meeting between a Saudi delegation and Hezbollah, held in Lebanon, paved the way for a ceasefire in Yemen. At the meeting, Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem reportedly presented the Saudis with a list of demands as a condition for an immediate ceasefire. These reportedly included the removal of Yemen's President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, the lifting of the blockade of key port city Hodeidah and Sanaa airport, and an exchange of prisoners, not all of whom were Yemeni but some who were Shias imprisoned in Bahrain and other Gulf states. Three weeks later, most of this came to pass, although not all the prisoners on Qassem’s list were freed.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah meets with Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Beirut.

US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program issues a $10 million reward for information on Hezbollah financier Mohammad Jaafar Qasir. The announcement claims Qassir, “helps to oversee several front companies used to mask the IRGC-QF’s role in the sale of oil and other extractives, a crucial source of income for Hizballah, IRGC-QF, the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and other illicit actors. In addition, Qasir leads Hizballah’s Unit 108, which coordinates closely with the IRGC-QF to facilitate the transfer of weapons, technology, and other support from Syria to Lebanon.” Qassir had been previously designated by the US Treasury Department on May 15, 2018 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentences Hezbollah members Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi to life imprisonment in absentia for the murder of Rafic Hariri.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatens that his group has placed “all options on the table” to prevent Israel from drilling in Karish, due to official Lebanese objections.

IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Amir Baram says Hezbollah has recently “intensified construction on its posts” along the Israel-Lebanon border, but that the IDF will “reduce it to nothing.”

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem threatens that Hezbollah is ready to act forcefully in response to the arrival of a vessel operated by Energean to develop Israel’s Karish gas field, whose ownership Lebanon disputes.

Nahib Berri, head of the Hezbollah-Allied Amal Party, wins reelection as Lebanon’s Parliamentary Speaker, but with only a 65-Vote majority.

U.S. imposes economic sanctions on an international oil smuggling and money laundering network, led by IRGC Quds Force Official Behnam Shahriyari and Former Quds Force Official Rostam Ghasemi, for smuggling millions of dollars for Hezbollah, the Quds Force and other Iranian proxies.

IDF reveals that sayyed Reza Hashem Saffiedine, the son-in-law of former IRGC-QF commander General Qassem Soleimani and son of Executive Council Chairman Hashem Saffieddine, regularly smuggles weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. The IDF claimed that Saffieddine was using civilian flights between Iran and Damascus to smuggle the weapons, which were then presumably trucked overland into Lebanon or stored in the group’s warehouses in Syria.

US Treasury Department sanctions Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah, a Lebanese businessman and Hezbollah financial financier, as well as five of his associates and eight of his companies in Lebanon and Iraq.

IDF shoots down Hezbollah drone which entered Israeli territory.

Hezbollah and allies win 62 out of 128 parliamentary seats in election, at face value losing their 2018 majority.

Alexei Saab, a New Jersey software developer who authorities said worked for Hezbollah, is convicted. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on one terrorism charge — providing material support for a terrorist group — but found Alexei Saab, 44, had received military-type training from Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, which is based in Lebanon.

Israeli forces foil weapon smuggling attempt across Lebanese border, believing Hezbollah to be involved.

IDF reveals identity of Hezbollah drugs and weapons smugglers running smuggling operations across the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights report claims Hezbollah has set up workshops to manufacture “weapons of all kinds” in the countryside of Homs, under the supervision of IRGC experts. The observatory stated that Hezbollah had established workshops for the manufacture of artillery and missile shells, mines and maintenance of drones “within the fortified arms and ammunition depots in the strategic Mahin area in the southeastern countryside of Homs.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah during the the former’s visit to Beirut.

Syrian opposition outlet Enab Baladi reports that Hezbollah began recruiting in the city of Homs in early 2022, inducting men between the ages of 15 and 20, after careful security monitoring and a combat course inside Lebanon. The recruitment, according to the report, is carried out by officials from Homs’ Shiite villages.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun defends Hezbollah during visit to the Vatican, saying its “resistance” to Israel’s former occupation of south Lebanon was not terrorism.

Israel’s Shin Bet arrests two Arab Israelis who tried to smuggle guns into Israel, identify targets for future missile attacks, and planned kidnappings of Israeli citizens on behalf of Hezbollah

Germany shuts down Hezbollah-linked Al-Mustafa Community Center for promoting terrorism against Israel.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah denies reports that his group has sent fighters to support Russia in Ukraine.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah reiterates importance of his group being part of every Lebanese government.

Arab League condemns interference by Iran and Hezbollah in what it labels Morocco’s domestic affairs, for the former’s support of the Polisario Front.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicted Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi, two members of Hezbollah, for the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

US Treasury Department sanctions two Hezbollah financiers operating in Guinea, Ali Saade and Ibrahim Taher.

Hezbollah issues denial that an Israeli special forces team found and destroyed its drone cache.

Senior Hamas delegation meets Hezbollah’s leaders in Lebanon.

Pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issues report claiming that Hezbollah has set up secret prisons near the Syrian city of Palmyra. The prison’s location is given as west of the city of Palmyra, in the east Homs countryside, in Central Syria.

IDF shoots down Hezbollah drone after crossing the border into Israel.

Lebanon bars pro-Iranian Bahraini opposition from holding events in Beirut.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah says that if Israel attacks Iran, his group will not necessarily retaliate against the Jewish state, but will weigh whether or not to get involved.

Israel sanctions Lebanese companies aiding Hezbollah’s missile project.

Israel conducts airstrike near the Syrian capital of Damascus that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims targeted a facility belonging to Hezbollah.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib says Lebanon will not disarm Hezbollah while en route to a meeting to mend ties between Beirut and the Gulf States. "I am not going to end Hezbollah’s existence, it is out of the question in Lebanon.”

United States sanctions “financial facilitators” tied to Hezbollah – Adnan Ayad, Ali Adel Diab, and Jihad Adnan Ayad.

Explosion reported at Hezbollah military site in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah hosts a conference in Beirut for Saudi opposition figures, which was also attended by members of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati issues rare rebuke to Hezbollah, after its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah called Saudi Arabia’s king Salman a terrorist.

IDF shoots down Hezbollah drone that enters Israeli airspace. The IDF subsequently released photos from the downed drone allegedly showing Hezbollah operatives training in how to use the drones.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria have begun boosting their presence in areas south and west of Damascus, working to expand an old Syrian military base south of the capital to be used as a training and operations center for reconnaissance drones.

Israeli media reports that the IDF is concerned that Hezbollah will obtain chemical weapons from Syria

May Masarwa, a 27-year-old from Israeli Arab city of Taibeh, is sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment for photographing restricting IDF military sites and a hospital for Hezbollah, in addition to conducting other intelligence operations for the group.

IDF reveals Syrian Army intelligence officer Bashar al-Hussein, who serves in the intelligence branch of the Syrian Army’s 90th Brigade, acted as the “main link” between Hezbollah’s Southern Command and the Syrian Army’s 1st Corps.
 

Australia designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Israel Police says Hezbollah has increased its efforts to send quality arms into Israel following clashes between Jewish and Arab Israelis during May 2021’s round of fighting with Palestinian militants in Gaza. Hezbollah’s goal was to arm criminal elements within the Arab Israeli sector to sow civil strife when strategically convenient.

Kuwait detains 18 individuals suspected of financing Hezbollah.

Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reports that Hezbollah intended to assassinate an Israeli national, who was a former intelligence officer, in Bogota as part of an operation that also targeted Americans to avenge the January 2020 killing of IRGC-QF Commander Qassem Soleimani.

In annual Martyr Day speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah claims his group spent $10 million to purchase Iranian fuel for Lebanon.

Israel holds the Hewn Stone exercise, simulating war with Hezbollah.

IDF holds exercise simulating full-scale war with Hezbollah alongside a period of domestic turmoil.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain expel their Lebanese ambassador amid row over comments made by then-Lebanese Interior Minister Georges Kordahi, of the pro-Hezbollah Marada Party, in favor of the Houthis in Yemen. Kordahi made the statements prior to assuming his post. Saudi Arabia also cited Hezbollah’s dominance over Lebanon and Beirut’s inability or unwillingness to stem the tide of illicit drugs being exported from their country into the Kingdom as reasons for the diplomatic rupture.  The UAE and Kuwait followed suit, while Qatar and Oman criticized Kordahi’s comments.

US imposes sanctions on two Lebanese businessmen and Member of Parliament Jamil al-Sayyed.

Saudi Arabia designates Al-Qardh al-Hassan, Hezbollah’s financial arm, as a terrorist entity.

Kosovo sanctions seven people and one company for links to Hezbollah.

Israeli helicopter reportedly carries out strikes on Hezbollah-linked targets in southern Syria.

IDF and Israel Police foil a gun and drug smuggling operation, suspecting Hezbollah involvement.

Alleged Hezbollah money launderer Alex Saab, with close links to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, is extradited to the United States.

A senior Israeli military official tells AFP that he expects Hezbollah to fire about 2,000 rockets a day at Israel if conflict between the two adversaries breaks out.

Six people were killed in a protest being held by Hezbollah supporters in Beirut. Hezbollah accuses the Lebanese Forces party of carrying out the attack, and its leader Samir Geagea of approving it.

Ali Atwa, a senior Hezbollah operative wanted for his role in the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, dies of cancer in his early 60s.

Third Hezbollah tanker carrying Iranian fuel for Lebanon docks in Syria

Hezbollah claims to have shot down an Israeli drone in south Lebanon; Israel says it is investigating the matter.

Reports emerge that Hezbollah has threatened to remove Judge Tarek al-Bitar, who was investigating the Beirut Port Blast. The group’s official Wafik al-Safa reportedly conveyed a message to the judge through a Lebanese reporter, insisting that she tell him that, “We will go along with you until the end of the legal road but if it doesn’t work we will remove you,” with Bitar himself saying that the message conveyed to him by Safa said “[Hezbollah] will remove you through legal means.”

The U.S. issues sanctions on several Hezbollah financiers based in the Gulf, in coordination with Qatar.
 

Hezbollah announces the arrival of the second shipment of Iranian fuel for Lebanon, docking at Syria’s Baniyas Port.  

U.S. sanctions Lebanon- and Kuwait-based financial conduits funding Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s first shipment of Iranian fuel arrives in Lebanon, after docking at Syria’s Baniyas port earlier in the week.

Hezbollah announces that it has arranged a third shipment of Iranian fuel for Lebanon, while the first one was already en route and the second was being prepared for shipment.

Hezbollah announces that a shipment of Iranian fuel the group had arranged would set sail for Lebanon within days, and warned the U.S. and Israel against interfering with the shipment.

Hezbollah fires rockets into the Israeli-held Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory the group claims belongs to Lebanon but which Israel claims it captured from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The incident was the first time the group had fired rockets at Israel since the 2006 war between the two adversaries, and was a response to an Israeli airstrike targeting Lebanon days earlier, the first of its kind since 2014. The rockets struck open areas and did not result in any casualties.

Israel announces new combat Unit 888, nicknamed the “Ghost” (Refaim) Unit and officially called the Multidimensional Unit, to be used in any future war with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah admits one of its military commanders, Imad al-Amin, was killed in Western Syria. Hezbollah did not indicate how al-Amin had been killed, but other sources suggested Al-Amin died in a strike that was reportedly carried out by Israel.

The IDF states that it believes that in a future war, Hezbollah could fire 1,000 to 3,000 rockets and missiles every day at Israel, for at least the first week of fighting between the two adversaries.

Hezbollah airs previously unreleased footage of its abduction of two Israeli soldiers in July 2006.

The IDF and Israel Police thwart an overnight attempt to smuggle weapons and ammunition from Lebanon into Israel. A joint statement issued by the IDF and Police said they were investigating whether Hezbollah was involved in the smuggling attempt.

Hezbollah’s Deputy-Secretary General Naim Qassem claims the group knew in advance of an Israeli ruse ahead of the IDF’s attempt to destroy the so-called underground “Metro” tunnels operated by Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. Qassem claimed that Hezbollah learned of this through his group’s “intelligence coordination work” with Palestinian militant factions in Gaza.

Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah hold a meeting in Beirut to discuss the prior month’s clash between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups. The two discuss how they can build on the experience of the latest round of conflict.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah says his group has readied the logistical preparations to import Iranian-supplied fuel into Lebanon, to offset the country’s crippling energy shortages.

Mariam Taha Thompson, a linguist working for the U.S. Department of Defense, is sentenced to 23 years in prison for giving classified information exposing U.S. intelligence sources to a Lebanese national who passed the information on to Hezbollah.

Ali Akbar Mohtashimpour, an Iranian Shia Muslim scholar who served as Tehran’s ambassador to Syria, dies of COVID-19. Mohtashimpour helped found Hezbollah.

After the culmination of the most recent round of hostilities between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah purports to lay down a new “equation,” whereby any “attack” by Israel against Jerusalem would mean a regional war with the Resistance Axis.

German authorities ban and carry out raids on seven sites belonging to Hezbollah-linked groups for allegedly collecting money for families of fallen Hezbollah fighters. The groups, which posed as humanitarian organizations, were the German Lebanese Family, People for Peace, and Give Peace.

Israeli Kan TV releases a report claiming that Hezbollah has dug a tunnel network hundreds of kilometers long from Beirut to south Lebanon, ending 3 km from the border with Israel. According to the report, the purpose of the tunnels is defensive, and meant to allow the group to quickly and clandestinely transfer fighters to the south in the case of a war with Israel.

Austria bans Hezbollah in its entirety.

Mohammad Qassem Tahhan, a Hezbollah operative who had served in Syria, is killed by Israeli gunfire as he attempts to breach the border fence with Israel during protests against the IDF’s operations in Gaza.

Three rockets are fired from Lebanon into Israel while IDF clashes with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. Hezbollah did not take credit for the rockets. The IDF retaliates with artillery fire into Lebanon.

The US Treasury Department’s OFAC imposes sanctions on seven Lebanese nationals associated with Hezbollah and its Qard al-Hassan financial arm.

Israeli helicopters attack an alleged Hezbollah site on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in a rare daytime airstrike. Syrian news outlets said the Israeli helicopter struck a target near the town of Hader, an area known to be linked to Assad’s regime and its allies, namely Iran and Hezbollah. The strike seriously wounds a man identified as Taher Mahmoud, who had been pictured in military garb and with a rifle.

IDF downs Hezbollah drone, which breached Israeli airspace. That same day, Israeli troops also located another drone belonging to Hezbollah which had been downed on the Israel-Lebanon border several months prior.

Hezbollah opens Al-Sajjad chain of supermarkets stocked with Syrian, Iraqi, and Iranian products at discount prices, accessible with a shopping card issued by the party to individuals – regardless of sectarian or political affiliation – who earned less than 1,500,000 L.L., or $125 a month. Hezbollah was reportedly also importing medicines and readying storage for fuel from Iran.

On March 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of State's Reward for Justice program offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the location or identification of Salim Jamil Ayyash, a senior operative in the assassination unit of the terrorist organization Lebanese Hizballah, or information leading to preventing him from engaging in an act of international terrorism against a U.S. person or U.S. property. Ayyash is a senior operative in Hizballah’s Unit 121, the group’s assassinations squad which receives its orders directly from Hizballah leader Hasan Nasrallah. Ayyash is known to have been involved in efforts to harm U.S. military personnel.

U.S. and Iraqi officials believe that an Iran-backed group, Kata’ib Hezbollah, with a history of targeting Americans in Iraq was responsible for a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base that hosts U.S. troops.

Short and medium range surface-to-surface Iranian missiles were delivered to the Iraqi Hezbollah near the regime-controlled town of Al-Tabani in the western countryside of Syria’s Deir Ezzor province.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah said his group now has twice as many precision-guided missiles as it had a year ago, saying Israel’s efforts to prevent it from acquiring them have failed.

Hezbollah files suit against those accusing it of responsibility for the August 4, 2020 explosion at Beirut Port

On November 6, 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on one of Lebanon's most powerful Christian politicians, former Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, for assisting Hezbollah. 

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two members of Hizballah’s Central Council. The Central Council is responsible for identifying and electing the group’s highest decision-making body, the Shura Council, which formulates policy and asserts control over all aspects of Hizballah’s activities, including its military activities. Specifically, OFAC designated Nabil Qaouk (Qaouk) and Hassan al-Baghdadi (Baghdadi) for being leaders or officials of Hizballah.

The Estonian government imposed sanctions and an entry ban on Hezbollah and its affiliates in response to its terrorist attacks. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu stated, "Hezbollah poses a considerable threat to international - and thereby Estonian - security. With this step Estonia stands by the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania as well as other countries who have concluded that Hezbollah uses terrorist means and constitutes a threat to the security of many states." 

A Hezbollah arms depot explodes in the village of Ain Qana in South Lebanon. Hezbollah blames the explosion on a “technical error” at the depot and denies any casualties.

A Bulgarian court sentenced two men to life imprisonment without parole over a 2012 bus bombing attributed to Hezbollah that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver at the country's second-largest airport.

Shin Bet announces the arrest of Yasmin Jaber, an East Jerusalem resident, for spying for Hezbollah. The Shin Bet said that Yasmin Jaber was arrested last month under suspicion of attempting to recruit “Israeli and Palestinian civilians and residents to carry out terrorist activities in Israel.” The Shin Bet alleged that Jaber was recruited during an international “youth conference” in Lebanon in 2015 that Hezbollah exploited to locate and recruit Arab Israelis as agents.

The United States sanctions Hezbollah Executive Council official Sultan Khalifa Asad, and Lebanon-based companies Arch Consulting and Meamar Construction, for links to the group. Washington also accuses Hezbollah of storing caches of weapons and ammonium nitrate for use in explosives across Europe in recent years, with the alleged aim of preparing for future attacks ordered by Iran. France’s Foreign Ministry responded to the U.S. claims by saying there was no evidence to suggest Hezbollah’s armed wing was storing chemicals to make explosives in France.

A report reveals the New IRA, the largest of the Irish republican dissident groups, is forging alliances with Hezbollah, among other radical groups in the Middle East, which may be providing it with weapons and finances. Irish and British security services suspect that the New IRA’s links with Hezbollah may have led to the import of arms including mortars and assault rifles. Hezbollah and the New IRA opened communications around 2017. Members of the New IRA then traveled to Lebanon in 2018 to meet with Hezbollah representatives, where British security services suspect they procured the weapons. Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA, has been a long-time supporter of Iran, Hezbollah’s patron.

Serbia designates Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.

The United States sanctions Lebanese political allies of Hezbollah for the first time, targeting two former Lebanese government ministers – Ali Hassan Khalil of the AMAL Movement and Yousef Finyanus of the Marada Movement.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah hosts Hamas counterpart Ismail Haniyeh, who was visiting Lebanon for the first time in 27 years.  The two met to discuss their joint response to moves towards Arab-Israeli normalization.

Israel attacks Hezbollah-linked “Green Without Borders” positions on the Israel-Lebanon border in retaliation against overnight cross-border fire from Lebanon targeting Israeli troops.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon finds Salim Ayyash, a member of Hezbollah, guilty of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, but exonerates two other members of the organization. The Tribunal also stated that they could not positively rule that either Hezbollah’s leadership or the Syrian regime had ordered the Ayyash-led cell to assassinate Hariri.

Lithuania bans Hezbollah-affiliated individuals from entering the country, stating that the group “uses terrorist means that pose threat to the security of a significant number of countries, including Lithuania.”

The Lithuanian government has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

2750 tons of ammonium nitrate improperly stored at Beirut’s seaport explodes. Suspicion falls upon Hezbollah, which allegedly used multiple buildings in the port for illegal drug smuggling and other criminal activities. Hezbollah reportedly controls buildings in the port housing weapons and fireworks and some regional intelligence officials suspected a fire at one of the Hezbollah warehouses sparked the explosions.

A report reveals Hezbollah’s fake news training camps in south Beirut. The investigation revealed Hezbollah’s role in training recruits from across the Middle East to spread online misinformation to sow political unrest and violence across the region.

 

The Israeli army announced that it had foiled a Hezbollah infiltration attempt along its northern border with Israel. An Israeli force spotted the Hezbollah infiltrators and, on instructions from IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, drove them off back to Lebanon rather than kill or wound them to avoid the incident spiraling into a larger conflagration. Hezbollah accuses Israel of fabricating the border clash, claiming that its fighters hadn’t attempted an attack on Israeli forces that day at all.

Shin Bet announces thwarting an Iranian and Hezbollah-backed plot to launch high-profile attacks in Judea and Samaria via the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The Syrian army was reportedly involved in training the PFLP cell. The cell was plotting to conduct major attacks on Israeli targets and communities, including a plan to kidnap an IDF soldier to use as a bargaining chip for the release of Palestinian militants in Israeli prisons. The operation was headed by Assad Al-Amali, a Lebanese resident who worked to connect the cell with Iran and Hezbollah.

Israel carries out an airstrike near Damascus International Airport, killing a Hezbollah fighter, Ali Kamel Mohsen, in the process. Hezbollah confirmed Mohsen’s death, and vowed to retaliate, even though Israel denied intentionally targeting him.

German authorities alleged 50 members of the Al-Mustafa Community Center in Bremen, Germany were “involved in the financial support” of Hezbollah by sending funds to Lebanese families of deceased Hezbollah fighters.

235 legislators from the European Union, United Kingdom, Switzerland, United States, Canada and Israel sign a declaration calling on the European Union to ban Hezbollah in its entirety.

Reports emerge that Hezbollah is opening an unofficial border crossing between Lebanon and Syria along Lebanon’s eastern border.

Kassim Tajideen – a Lebanese businessman serving a five-year sentence in the United States for financing Hezbollah – returns to Lebanon upon being released early from his prison sentence by U.S. authorities.

 

Police in Italy seize 14 tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills being shipped into the country from Syria. Police traced the drugs back to Latakia, Syria, an area under the control of the Assad government and known as a hub for Hezbollah smuggling. Investigators considered Hezbollah’s involvement in the Italian shipment to be likely.

A Lebanese judge bans local and foreign media outlets operating in Lebanon from interviewing U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea for a year, saying her criticism of Hezbollah was seditious and a threat to local peace and stability.

U.S. lawmakers call on the European Union to designate all of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and ban its activities on the continent, rather than restricting such limitations on the group to its so-called military wing.

The Republic of Kosovo designates Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.

Usama Hamade, a Lebanese man, pleads guilty in federal court to conspiring to export drone parts and technology from the U.S. to Hezbollah in Lebanon. His brother Issam had pleaded guilty to the same charge earlier in March.

Lebanon’s foreign minister Nassif Hitti summons Germany’s ambassador to Beirut to explain Berlin’s decision to ban Hezbollah on German soil.

Israel bombs a Hezbollah munitions warehouse in central Syria in a rare daytime strike. The strike, which came 12 hours after an earlier Israeli assault on Iranian-backed forces in the Syrian Golan Heights, was the fifth attack in two weeks by Israel on Iranian and Iranian-linked targets in Syria.

Germany ends its distinction between Hezbollah’s military and political “wings” and bans the group in its entirety. Iran and Hezbollah condemn the move, and warn Berlin of the “consequences” of its action. Berlin changed its policy vis-a-vis Hezbollah after Israel’s Mossad spy agency, after a months-long operation to assess the group’s operations in Germany, informed local authorities of the existence of warehouses in the south of the country where the Beirut-based group kept materials used to make explosives.

The IDF’s Hebrew twitter account reports that Israeli troops foiled an attempted infiltration from Lebanon into northern Israel. The IDF reported that Israeli forces had identified three damaged points in the technical fence separating Israel and Lebanon.

An Israeli drone targets a Jeep Grand Cherokee carrying members of Hezbollah with two Hellfire missiles at 30-second intervals. The strike occurred near the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese frontier. Reports indicate the vehicle’s occupants survived the strike, but there were conflicting accounts of their identities. According to information which Al-Arabiya claims was provided to it “exclusively,” the occupants of the vehicle were Mustafa Mughniyeh, the younger son of Hezbollah’s fallen commander Imad Mughniyeh, and an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer Imad Karimi, from Iran’s Fars Province. However, Kuwaiti Al-Jarida identified Karimi as a Hezbollah commander based on “an informed source in Tehran.” Al-Jarida added that the two survived because the first missile missed its target, and they had escaped by the time the second missile struck. The Kuwaiti report made no mention of Mustafa Mughniyeh, though some social media users suggested that Mughniyeh and Karimi were the same person.

Hezbollah lays down a “comprehensive” plan to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the Bekaa, including 3,350 personnel specialized in different relevant fields, organized into 266 social and health committees.

Israel Defense Forces Twitter uploads video allegedly showing a Syrian Arab Army officer visiting “Hezbollah positions in Syria,” adding the warning that Israel “See[s] you. Consider this a warning. We won’t allow Hezbollah to entrench itself militarily in Syria.”

Hezbollah commander Mohammad Ali Younes is assassinated by unknown assailants in south Lebanon. Fars News Agency reported that Younes was in charge of Hezbollah’s counterintelligence activities, including tracking down “collaborators and spies.”

 

25-year-old Israeli woman residing in Beer Sheeva is indicted for passing on intelligence to Hezbollah. According to the indictment, in 2018 the woman established contact via Facebook with a Hezbollah operative in south Lebanon named “Ali” who soon began requesting that she send him photographs of military targets inside Israel.

IDF shoots down drone that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, allegedly deployed by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah says it is committing its vast resources to help combat the spread of COVID-19 in Lebanon.

Prosecutors in Austria started a trial against an alleged Hezbollah commander who spent 13 years in the country while reportedly being involved in financing terrorism. The trial led Austria to pass a joint resolution calling for “decisive action” against Hezbollah’s terrorist and criminal activities.

IDF Home Front Command and Defense Ministry begin first phase of widespread effort to reinforce northern Israeli residential areas against Hezbollah attacks by surveying security conditions and needs of 21 towns on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Former Hezbollah Secretary-General Subhi al-Tufayli says it is “religiously forbidden” for the group to be fighting in Idlib.

Hossein Sheikholeslam – a high-ranking Iranian official who was an advisor to Foreign Minister Javad Zarif – dies from COVID-19. Sheikholeslam was allegedly part of an Iranian quintet that helped establish Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli strike targets Hezbollah position and Syrian Arab Army airbase in city of Homs. The strike was apparently carried out from over Lebanese airspace, over Sidon. Shortly after, Israel apparently carried out another strike in the outskirts of Quneitra. In one of the strikes, one Syrian soldier was killed, and three were wounded. Other reports indicated that the Israeli strike destroyed a long-range missile factory, and resulted in the death of an Iranian general.

Mariam Taha Thompson, a Lebanese-American national – formerly residing in Rochester, Minnesota –  working as a translator for the military in Iraq, is charged with providing Hezbollah with highly classified information, including the names of foreign informants and the details they provided to the United States. The investigation leading to Thompson’s arrest began on December 30, 2019, and showed that between that date and February 10, 2020, Thompson accessed dozens of HUMINT source files. A search of Thompson’s living quarters on February 19 led to the discovery of a handwritten note in Arabic concealed under her mattress, containing classified information from U.S. Department of Defense computer systems, identifying human assets by name, and warning a Department of Defense target who is affiliated with a designated foreign terrorist organization with ties to Hezbollah. Thompson transmitted the classified information in the handwritten note to a co-conspirator, in whom she had a romantic interest. The FBI’s investigation revealed that Thompson knew the co-conspirator was a foreign national whose relative worked for the Lebanese government and had apparent connections to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah parliamentarian Hassan Fadlallah reiterates Hezbollah’s rejection of an IMF plan to extricate Lebanon from its current financial crisis.

IDF targets vehicle in Quneitra after sniper fire from the area – possibly in retaliation for Imad Tawil’s killing – is directed at areas of the Israeli-held portion of the Golan Heights. Israeli reports indicate the vehicle was carrying a Hezbollah sniper unit.

Hezbollah officials allegedly threaten Ali Jammoul a Lebanese Shiite activist from south Lebanon, for criticizing the group for fighting in Syria.

Widespread Turkish strikes in north-west Syria kill dozens of pro-Syrian regime fighters, including from Iranian-proxy militias. The casualties include several Hezbollah fighters. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Hezbollah lost 14 fighters in the strikes. Hezbollah admits to losing eight fighters in the strikes: Ibrahim Khalil Basal, Ahmad Fayyad Mustafa, Ali Issa Qassem, Talal Adel Hamzeh, Mohammad Jamal Tarshishi, Ahmad Ali Abukhodor, Mahmoud Adnan Hamed, and Issa Ali Barji. The ninth Hezbollah-affiliated casualty was an Iranian cleric by the name of Ali al-Zinjani.

Israeli strike – in the village of Hader, near Quneitra – targets Hezbollah-linked operative Imad al-Tawil, who was tasked with building Iranian military infrastructure in the Golan Heights.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on three Lebanese individuals and 12 entities affiliated with or controlled by the Iran-based Martyrs Foundation. The designated companies included Atlas Holding for being owned or controlled by the Martyrs Foundation, part of Hezbollah’s support network.

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem says the group would reject submitting Lebanon to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic reform plan, calling the IMF a “tool of global arrogance.”

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says Australia is considering listing the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. To date, Australia only considers part of the group’s military apparatus, the External Security Organization, a terror group.

UAE court upholds life sentence for Hezbollah-linked terror cell. The verdict was final and not subject to appeal.

A Gulf official rules out aid for Lebanon until Diab’s government demonstrates it is not under Hezbollah’s sway.

Hassan Diab forms new Lebanese government backed by Hezbollah and its political allies.

Colombia and Honduras declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

UK adds entire Hezbollah organization to its terror blacklist and freezes all of its assets.

Incoming Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei reiterates vow to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Iran reportedly warns Nasrallah that he could be next in U.S. crosshairs after the U.S. killed Qassem Soleimani.

Nasrallah vows U.S. forces in the region will “return home in coffins” in retaliation for U.S. strike killing Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.

The German parliament broadly adopts motion urging government to ban all Hezbollah activities, which some government officials said would make it likely that the government would act on the motion in early 2020.

The Democratic Republic of Congo announces that it will also target Saleh Assi with sanctions, freezing all of his assets and businesses in the country.

Sudan closes Hezbollah offices to rebuild ties with the U.S.

Lebanese troops use force to disperse Hezbollah and Amal Movement supporters attempting to attack protesters. Lebanese troops then clash with anti-government protesters rejecting the nomination of Hezbollah-allied Hassan Diab as the country’s new prime minister.

U.S. Treasury Department sanctions Lebanon-based Nazem Said Ahmad for providing financial support to Hezbollah, stating that he was one of the group’s top donors and generated funds for it through his longstanding ties to the blood diamond trade. Treasury also sanctions Democratic Republic of Congo-based Saleh Assi for laundering money through Ahmad’s diamond businesses and providing financial support to Adham Tabaja, another top Hezbollah financier.

Guatemala’s incoming president vows to outlaw Hezbollah during a visit to Israel.

Ali Kourani is sentenced to 40 years in prison for providing material support to Hezbollah and scouting locations in NYC for potential attacks.

Germany denies it will ban Hezbollah in its entirety.

Hezbollah and Amal supporters attack anti-government protesters once again.

Hezbollah accuses U.S. of meddling in Lebanon’s crisis and in the formation of a new government.

Argentina contemplates softening the country’s stance on Hezbollah, and distinguishing between its political and military wings.

 

Twitter suspends accounts belonging to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV network, including accounts in English, French and Spanish.

Caretaker Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan – from Saad Hariri’s Future Movement – says in an interview with CNN that Hezbollah is a permanent fixture of Lebanese society.  Hezbollah fires an anti-aircraft missile at an Israeli drone in south Lebanon, but the IDF denies it was shot down.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigns, along with his entire government.  Hezbollah supporters again attack anti-government protesters and break up their tents.

Federal prosecutors urge that Usama and Issam Hamade, two brothers charged with conspiring to export drone parts and technology from the U.S. to Hezbollah, remain in custody while they await trial. The two were arrested in February 2018 in South Africa before being extradited to the U.S.

Hezbollah and Amal Movement supporters launch attacks on anti-government protesters after incitement by Hassan Nasrallah.

Lebanon erupts in country-wide anti-government protests demanding the wholesale resignation of Beirut’s entire political class. Hezbollah quickly moves to contain fallout.

Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani reveals that he was present in Lebanon during Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel, and played an advisory role in the group’s operations against the IDF.

Dual Lebanese-U.S. national Alexei Saab is charged with acting as a U.S.-based Hezbollah operative, and scouting landmarks in the U.S. – like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building – for possible attacks.

Report indicates Samir Berro, a Lebanese man wanted by the U.S. for allegedly supplying drone technology to Hezbollah, formed an aviation company in 2007 with Shibl Muhsin Obaid al-Zaydi, an Iraqi militant who has been sanctioned for assisting the IRGC. Berro’s and Zaydi’s company was called Gulf Bird.

Hezbollah claims to shoot down an Israeli drone in south Lebanon.

Israel claims to uncover alleged Hezbollah precision missile site in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah launches ATGM attack on IDF convoy near Moshav Avivim, in northern Israel. Despite Hezbollah’s claims, the strike fails to cause any Israeli casualties.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions Jammal Trust Bank SAL (Jammal Trust), a Lebanon-based financial institution that knowingly facilitates banking activities for Hezbollah.

Paraguay labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

The District Court of the District of Columbia sentences Kassim Tajideen, designated financer of Hezbollah, to five years in prison and orders him to forfeit $50 million.

Israeli’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon claims that in 2018 and 2019, “Israel found that Iran and Quds Force shave begun to advance the exploitation of civilian maritime channels” and that Beirut port “is now the Port of Hezbollah.”

A report indicates that Yemen’s Houthis raised nearly $300,000 in the latest stage of a money-drive campaign to support Hezbollah.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designates Salman Raouf Salman, a senior member of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization and the suspected coordinator of the 1994 AMIA bombing.

Argentina designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization on the 25th anniversary of the AMIA bombing, and freezes the group’s assets. Argentina was the first Latin American country to adopt such a move.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah says his group has begun a troop reduction in Syria as fighting in that country increasingly comes to a close.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctions Hezbollah parliamentarians, the first such move to target the group’s representatives in the Lebanese legislature. The move targeted Amin Sherri and Mohammad Raad – the head of Hezbollah’s “Loyalty to the Resistance” parliamentary bloc – and Wafic Safa, one of the group’s senior security officials.

 

Mossad aids in the arrest of Hussein Mahmoud Yassine, a Hezbollah agent, in Uganda. An intelligence source indicated that Hezbollah had instructed Yassine to identify potential U.S. and Israeli targets for attacks in Uganda, and to recruit other Lebanese nationals. The source claimed Yassine had already identified at least 100 Lebanese citizens for potential recruitment.

The U.S. State Department designates Hussain Ali Hazzima, the chief of the group’s Unit 200, which serves as Hezbollah’s intelligence unit.

Kosovo designates Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but applies ban only to its military arm.

Nader Mohammad Farhat, a Lebanese national associated with Hezbollah, is extradited from Paraguay to the U.S. based on intelligence that he was involved in a $1.4 million drug money laundering scheme. Paraguayan authorities had arrested Farhat earlier, in May 2018, in Ciudad del Este.

The U.S. and Argentina convene a workshop on countering Hezbollah’s terrorist activities in the Western Hemisphere.

UK reveals that, five years prior, it had uncovered a Hezbollah explosives stockpile in northwest London.

German parliament rejects a bill to label Hezbollah in its entirety a terrorist group.

UAE Court sentences six Lebanese nationals to jail for setting up a terrorist cell with links to Hezbollah.

Trial of Ali Kourani begins. Kourani, a dual Lebanese-U.S. citizen, was accused of gathering intelligence on targets within the U.S. for Hezbollah.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designates Belgium-based Wael Bazzi for acting for or on behalf of his father and Hezbollah financier, Mohammad Bazzi. OFAC also designates Belgium-based Voltra Transcor Energy BVBA, Belgium-based OFFISCOOP NV, and United Kingdom-based BSQRD Limited for being owned or controlled by Wael Bazzi. Additionally, OFAC designates Lebanon-based Hassan Tabaja for acting for or on behalf of his brother and Hezbollah member and financier, Adham Tabaja. The companies and individuals acted as conduits for sanctions evasion schemes.

The U.S. State Department offers $10 million reward for information to disrupt Hezbollah’s finances, as part of its Rewards for Justice Program.

Hezbollah sends young volunteers to Iran to aid in relief-operations for flood-stricken areas.

A court in Bahrain sentences 139 people for terrorism offenses. The defendants were accused of building a cell called “Bahrain Hezbollah,” in order to sow discord in the Gulf kingdom.

U.S. Treasury Department sanctions Lebanese money-launderer Kassem Chams for moving funds on behalf of Hezbollah and narcotics trafficking organizations.

Israel says that Ali Musa Daqdouq – a Hezbollah commander responsible for killing U.S. personnel in Iraq – is now active in the Golan Heights, setting up a guerilla network for cross-border attacks on Israeli targets.

Germany says it won’t follow UK’s lead in declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

 

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne says her government will “carefully examine” Hezbollah’s behavior to decide whether to follow the UK’s example in proscribing the group in its entirety, as opposed to just its “External Security Organization.”

UK expands its ban on Hezbollah to include its political wing, in addition to the proscribed military wing.

Two Israeli drones crash in the Hezbollah-dominated southern outskirts of Beirut. Hezbollah claims the two drones were rigged with explosives and were sent by Israel to carry out a kamikaze-style attack on targets belonging to the group in Beirut. Simultaneously, the IDF had conducted a series of airstrikes in Syrian territories targeting an IRGC-led cell planning to fly kamikaze-style drones carrying explosives into northern Israel. The Israeli strike killed two Hezbollah operatives, Hassan Youssef Zbeeb and Yasser Ahmad Daher. The group vows to respond with a “calculated strike” from Lebanon, within Israeli territory.

Lebanon forms a new government after 9-months of deadlock, exacerbated by Hezbollah's support for several Sunni MPs antagonistic towards Prime Minister Hariri who wanted cabinet representation. Hezbollah received three positions, including the Health Ministry, in the new cabinet, where along with its allies it held 19 out of 30 ministries.

Hezbollah voices its support for Nicolas Maduro against his opponent Juan Guaido.

Americo De Grazia, a Venezuelan MP opposed to President Nicolas Maduro, claimed that Hezbollah was exploiting the country’s gold mines to finance its activities in Lebanon and the Middle East.

IDF concludes Operation Northern Shield after finding the “6th, largest, and last” Hezbollah tunnel dug from south Lebanon into northern Israel.

Maj. Gen. Tamir Hyman, the head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence branch (AMAN), tells the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hezbollah lacks the domestic ability to produce precision-guided missiles, contrary to the assertions made by several Israeli political officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulates Mossad agents on ensuring that Hezbollah is only able to obtain “dozens” of precision-guided missiles. “Today, Hezbollah was supposed to have thousands of precision-guided missiles. But they only have a few dozen.” Kassim Tajideen, a Lebanese businessman accused of financing Hezbollah, pleads guilty to committing roughly $1 billion in unlawful transactions since 2009.

Israel launches “Operation Northern Shield” after discovering a network of Hezbollah tunnels dug from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.

 

Mossad helps foil Hezbollah plot to attack Jewish targets in Argentina. Three men arrested confirmed they planned to attack the targets.

Ahead of the G20 Summit due to take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina arrests two men suspected of ties to Hezbollah, seizing a small weapons cache including a rifle, a shotgun, several pistols, and other weapons.

 

U.S. State Department sanctions Jawad Nasrallah – the son of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah – as an SDGT. Trial of Mohammad Noureddine – a Lebanese businessman with ties to Hezbollah – and 14 other associates suspected of involvement in vast drug money laundering ring begins in Paris.

 

Reports circulate that Hezbollah is paying Syrian rebels near the border with Israel to switch sides.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump signs the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018, expanding the list of who can be sanctioned for doing business with Hezbollah. Lebanon moves to quickly contain impact on the banking sector.

U.S. Attorney General designates Hezbollah as a top transnational organized crime threat, targeting them for increased prosecution.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah responds ambiguously to Netanyahu’s claims about missile production sites in Beirut, only saying, “we should not help the enemy in its psychological war.”

Treasury Department sanctions Mohammad Abdallah Al-Amin and seven companies he owns for helping Adham Husayn Tabaja – connected to senior Hezbollah leadership – circumvent U.S. sanctions.

French police raid headquarters of the Centre Zahra France, an Islamic association based outside the port city of Dunkirk suspected of ties to Hezbollah. French authorities allegedly seized weapons in the compound, and froze the organization’s funds.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil escorts dozens of foreign ambassadors and diplomats on tour of a soccer field, a warehouse, and a golf course near Beirut’s airport to counter allegations made three days earlier by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the sites housed Hezbollah precision guided missiles. No evidence of missiles or their production was seen.
 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleges in his UN General Assembly Speech that Hezbollah was establishing missile conversion infrastructure in three locations in its south Beirut stronghold, near Rafic Hariri International Airport.

Lebanon’s parliament ratifies the international Arms Trade Treaty, a 2014 treaty seeking to regulate international trade in conventional arms and prevent their illicit trade, which angers Hezbollah lawmakers, who storm out of the parliamentary session in protest. One Hezbollah legislator, Ali Ammar, says the ratification “infringes on the weapons of the resistance.” Prime Minister Saad Hariri commented that the ratification of the treaty had nothing to do with Hezbollah.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun gives interview to French daily Le Figaro, in which he defended Hezbollah, its continued possession of a vast weapons arsenal, and its place in Lebanese society.

Reports emerge that captured and wounded Houthi fighters admitted receiving training from Hezbollah military experts in Yemen.

A captured Houthi fighter in Yemen admits to receiving ideological training at the hands of Hezbollah.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon begins hearing closing arguments, as the prosecution reiterates its findings that the Syrian regime and Hezbollah members – including its former military commander Mustafa Badreddine – masterminded Rafic Hariri’s assassination.

At least three members of Hezbollah are killed in the Druze city of Sweida, in Syria, by a car bomb likely detonated by ISIS or an ISIS-affiliated group.

A Hezbollah source reiterates the group’s threat that it will fight against Israel and other U.S. regional allies if Washington attacks Iran. Meanwhile, the Yemeni government asks the UN Security Council to open an international investigation into Hezbollah’s meddling in Yemen’s domestic affairs.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warns pro-March 14 political forces not to “play with fire” by acting on Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s findings or holdings.

The Syrian regime formally requests Hezbollah remain in Syria for an additional, unspecified period, even after the battles in northeastern and northwestern Syria end.

Yemeni government formally complains to Lebanon over Hezbollah’s activities in Yemen and support of the Houthis.

Saudi-led coalition claims Hezbollah supplied Houthis with military communications system.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announces Hezbollah will assist in the return of Syrian refugees to their home country.

The Armed Forces of Yemen capture seven Hezbollah experts in Saada, aiding in the training of Houthi rebels. Meanwhile, Saudi-led coalition announces killing eight other Hezbollah members in airstrikes in Saada. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah issues a denial days later.

President Bashar al-Assad says talk of Hezbollah’s withdrawal from Syria is “premature”.

The head of Iran’s Qods Force, Qassem Soleimani, says Hezbollah now has “74 parliamentarians out of 128” after recent elections. Soleimaini’s comments elicit outrage from Lebanese politicians, including some within the Hezbollah-allied Free Patriotic Movement. Reports emerge of Hezbollah fighters withdrawing from southern Syria, only to return in Syrian regime military uniforms.

Hezbollah commander Nasser Jamil Hudroj is killed in clashes with ISIS in eastern Syria.

Hassan Nasrallah says in a speech that the ultimate decision on Hezbollah’s withdrawal from Syria lies with President Bashar al-Assad, and the group will remain there until he asks for its fighters to withdraw.

Israel complains to the UN that Hezbollah is training “thousands” of Hamas fighters in Lebanon.

Friction develops between Hezbollah and Russia over a Russian force deployment on the Syrian-Lebanon border, eliciting protests by the militant group and prompting the Russian force to withdraw from its positions a day later, after the Syrian Army deploys in the area to reduce tensions.

Moroccan Shiite activists demand that the Moroccan Foreign Ministry reveal evidence of Hezbollah’s connection to the Polisario.

Morocco’s foreign minister claims that Hezbollah began aiding the Polisario after Moroccan authorities arrested Qassem Mohammad Tajeddine, one of Hezbollah’s top financiers in Africa, on March 12, 2017.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions top Hezbollah financier Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi and Abdallah Safieddine, its key financial representative to Tehran. Iraq takes measures against Hezbollah in compliance with US sanctions.

The Moroccan foreign minister reveals more details on Hezbollah-Polisario connection. He claims the two groups met at a secret location in Algiers, known to Algerian intelligence, which was rented by an Algerian woman married to a Hezbollah member. This Hezbollah member was recruited as an agent to establish contacts, especially with the Polisario. The foreign minister adds that the Iranian embassy in Algiers – particularly its Cultural Attaché Amir al-Mousaoui – acted as the hub of this connection. He indicates that since March 2017, high-ranking Hezbollah leaders had been traveling to Tindouf, Algeria to meet with Polisario officials, oversee their training, and establish installations and facilities. The foreign minister says the specific Hezbollah officials responsible for contact with the Polisario were Hezbollah’s foreign relations official Haidar Subhi Hadid, its military advisor Ali Musa Dakdouk, and Hajj Abu Wael al-Zalzali, its military and logistical planning official.

Moroccan Foreign Ministry spokesman says Rabat had evidence that Hezbollah had armed and trained Polisario members in guerilla warfare tactics and tried to establish a commando unit within the Western Saharan group. He also said that Moroccan authorities had discovered that Hezbollah had transferred a shipment of weapons and explosives to the Polisario, including SA-9 and SA-11 missiles.

Hezbollah wins 12 seats in Lebanon’s first parliamentary elections in nine years, and an additional two seats for its allies Elwalid Succariyeh and Jamil al-Sayyed, bringing the total seats for its Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc to 14.

Morocco cuts diplomatic ties with Iran over Tehran backing the Polisario in the Western Sahara via Hezbollah. Morocco alleges Hezbollah was providing aid to the Polisario via Algeria, in addition to forging ties over laundering money and selling weapons and narcotics. Hezbollah and Algeria deny Rabat’s accusations.

30 Hezbollah-affiliated thugs attack Ali al-Amine, the editor-in-chief of al-Janoubia – which is critical of Hezbollah – who was running as a parliamentary candidate.

Saudi Arabia presses the UN Security Council to take a “determined” stance against Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran.

Hezbollah member dies in mysterious explosion in the south Lebanon city of Sidon.

On his second visit to Hezbollah’s stronghold in south Lebanon, Prime Minister Saad Hariri emphasizes the state’s sole responsibility for the well-being of its citizens, and the army’s sole responsibility to protect them.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah claims that, after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the United States offered Hezbollah billions of dollars – through Lebanese-American businessman, lobbyist, and advisor to the UAE’s Crown prince George Nader – to cease “resistance” against Israel.

An attempt to assassinate anti-Hezbollah Shiite cleric Sheikh Abbas al-Jawhari is carried out; al-Jawhari accuses Hezbollah.

Hezbollah denies Saudi accusations of sending ballistic missiles to Houthis in Yemen from Lebanon.

Houthi leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi reiterates promise to send his fighters to reinforce Hezbollah in future war against Israel.

Sheikh Abbas al-Jawhari – an anti-Hezbollah Shiite cleric running for elections against the group in Baalbek/Al-Hermel – is arrested, and his press office accuses Hezbollah of framing him. Al-Jawhari is released 24 hours later without being charged.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.

Ali Hassan Tarhini – a senior commander in Hezbollah’s combat engineer corps – is killed fighting in Syria. Emirati State Minister for Foreign Affairs claims Qatar gave a total of $700 million to a collection of terror groups, which included Hezbollah.

Hezbollah presents elections in the Bekaa Valley as a continuation of the victory over ISIS, and Nasrallah accuses his electoral foes of supporting ISIS. Reports surface that Hezbollah was attempting to convert and recruit members of the Moroccan community in Abidjan, Ivory Coast through religious and educational institutions built by local Lebanese expatriates.

Farda News leaks comments by Hassan Nasrallah stating that he holds the religious-political ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih higher than the Lebanese constitution, and that Hezbollah was fighting in Syria to defend Shiism and not President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah quickly denies the comments.

Undated picture surfaces of Hassan Nasrallah meeting with IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimaini.

Prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Ali al-Amin says neither Hezbollah nor Iran represent Shiism.

Hezbollah launches the “Sacred Defense” video game, simulating its involvement in the Syrian Civil War and combat against Sunni groups.

Maj. Gen. Yahya Safavi – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s top military adviser – claims Hezbollah’s experience in the Syrian Civil War has transformed it into a strong army.

The United States Justice Department charges three individuals with exporting drone parts to Hezbollah.

Akram al-Kaabi, the head of Hezbollah al-Nujaba Movement, visits Hezbollah in Lebanon, and says his fighters are “ready to fight alongside Hezbollah,” in a future war with Israel.

Two captured Houthi fighters confess to receiving military training and education from Hezbollah.

The United States imposes new sanctions on Hezbollah-linked financial institutions and individuals.

Hezbollah responds to Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s claim of Israeli sovereignty over the disputed “Gas Block 9,” saying the group would use force to defend Lebanon’s natural resources from “Israeli greed.”

Hezbollah field commander Mohammad Sadeq Sharafeddine, aka Abi al-Huda, is buried after being killed in clashes against ISIS in Syria’s eastern desert.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces formation of anti-Hezbollah financing and narcoterrorism team.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives comprehensive interview to Al-Mayadeen, in which he claims that the Obama administration and U.S. intelligence agencies attempted to communicate with Hezbollah indirectly, via what he called “mutual friends.” Nasrallah also alleges that in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, a Lebanese-American citizen handed him a letter from then-Vice President Dick Cheney offering to remove Hezbollah from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization List and $2 Billion, among other incentives, if the group would stop threatening Israel.

Hezbollah joins forces with Amal Movement in all electoral districts – running on the same tickets – ahead of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections in May.

Three Hezbollah fighters – one communications specialist and two explosives and mining experts – are killed in coalition airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen. The New York Times reports that Saudi Arabia is seeking to form an anti-Hezbollah militia. Saudi officials deny these claims the following day.

Hezbollah explosives expert killed in coalition airstrikes in the Tahita directorate in the Western coast of Yemen.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir says the solution to Lebanon’s problems is disarming Hezbollah and transforming the group into a purely political party. A report in the Lebanese daily An-Nahar indicates Hezbollah may have resumed sending weapons and other aid to Palestinian armed groups.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah calls for a third Palestinian Intifada in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. ISIS releases a video from captured cellphones entitled “God Will Distance Them From You [Fasayakfiyakuhumu Allah] 4” which depicts fallen Hezbollah fighters in Abu Kamal, videos of their battle, and their frustration during the fight.

Video surfaces of Hezbollah hosting Qais al-Khazali, the head of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Iraqi Shiite militia, and taking him on tour of Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

Saudi report claims Hezbollah is funding Hamas through bank accounts in Algeria. Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments denies the report.

Under Saudi pressure, Arab League states condemn Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, as the Bahraini Foreign Minister says Lebanon is now under the “total control” of the organization.

Hezbollah and the Assad regime (with assistance of Iraqi Shiite militias) capture Abu Kamal – on Syrian-Iraqi border – which is the last major ISIS-held town in Syria.

Hezbollah and the Assad regime (with assistance of Iraqi Shiite militias) capture Abu Kamal – on Syrian-Iraqi border – which is the last major ISIS-held town in Syria

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri unexpectedly resigns while visiting Saudi Arabia. Hariri would eventually return and resume his post as premier, on the condition that Hezbollah and all Lebanese political factions adhere to a policy of regional dissociation and non-interference in the affairs of other Arab states.

Syrian Army, Hezbollah, and “Resistance Axis” forces launch successful operations against rebel forces south of Damascus, ISIS in the eastern Syrian desert towards the Iraqi border – with Iraqi PMF militias simultaneously pressing against ISIS from the Iraqi side of the border – and the Nusra Front in Hama’s countryside.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives speech to commemorate the one-week anniversary of the death of the commander Ali Hadi al-Asheq (al-Hajj Abbas), detailing his long career with Hezbollah. Nasrallah claims ISIS has almost been completely eradicated but accuses the United States of protecting the terror group and prolonging its organizational life. He also addresses U.S. financial sanctions on Lebanon, and says Hezbollah supports the Lebanese government’s decision to isolate the Lebanese economy from these sanctions.

Hezbollah, the Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces seize Lisan al-Sakhr Heights and Tal al-Dabu’ in the southwestern countryside of Damascus, putting them in control of the Nusra Front supply route between Beit Tima and Kafr Hour, in the direction of Beit Jan. Hezbollah, the Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces seize complete control over the connecting road between al-Sukhnah and Deir Ezzor.

Hezbollah, the Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces seize territories from ISIS in the southeastern countryside of Homs, putting them on the outskirts of the northern, western, and eastern sides of the city of Qaryatayn.

Hezbollah, Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces seize Marker Points 196-204 on the Jordanian-Syrian border. Meanwhile, Hezbollah Military Media claims Hezbollah, Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces completely wiped out the ISIS presence in Hama’s eastern countryside, after seizing its last strongholds in the area. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army repel an ISIS attack on their positions on the connecting road between the cities of Palmyra and al-Sukhna, in Homs’ eastern countryside.

Hezbollah loses military commander Ali al-Hadi al-Asheq (Al-Hajj Abbas) – a member of its special forces since 1992 – in confrontations against ISIS in the desert of Palmyra.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army continue operations in the southeastern countryside of Damascus, seizing Rajm al-Hadlah, Rajm Bakr, Khibrat Bakr, Khibrat Radifi, where many opposition headquarters and communications centers were located. Hezbollah, Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces continue advances on the Syrian-Jordanian border as well, seizing Marker Points 186-195, and in the process killing “Abu Hassan” – a Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya military commander – and Ayman Thaher al-Buhayr, a Jaysh Ahrar al-Asha’ir commander.

Nasrallah gives speech in which he warns against domestic confrontations between Lebanon’s different factions, and that internal divisions pose a risk because the United States is “plotting” new regional wars. He also addresses the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, saying it is in their interest to return to their country. He also says that ISIS was now on the verge of destruction. Nasrallah additionally argues against Kurdish independence, saying it is not a matter of self-determination, but it is being imposed upon the Kurds as a part of a plot to divide the region.

As part of “Operation Wal-Fajr [Dawn] 3,” Hezbollah loses group of fighters in a clash with ISIS east of Hmeimah – on the edges Homs’ southeastern countryside – including one of the senior “correspondents” of its military media, Ali Abdullatif Ammar, aka “Jibril.” Hezbollah and the Syrian Army make advances against the group in the area.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives speech on third night of Ashoura, claiming that the combined forces of Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, and Iraq saved the region from ISIS.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah declares victory in Syria, says only “isolated battles” remain to be fought.

Hezbollah claims to discover an Israeli espionage device in south Lebanon’s Kfarchouba area, and alerts the Lebanese Army and intelligence community, who move into the area.

The Syrian Army seizes Deir Ezzor from ISIS control, with Hezbollah’s assistance.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis – deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces – addresses flowery letter to Hassan Nasrallah, saying both the PMF and Hezbollah are “one front in confronting the challenges [lit. revetments] of terrorism, excess, and Zionism,” and acknowledging both Nasrallah’s and Hezbollah’s primacy as the heads of the regional “resistance” movements. Separately, Hassan Nasrallah reveals that he traveled to Damascus and discussed evacuation of ISIS fighters from Lebanese-Syrian border area to Abu Kamal, on Syrian-Iraqi border, with Bashar al-Assad.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah issues statement addressing Iraqi anger over transfer of ISIS fighters from Western Qalamoun to Abu Kamal, downplaying their ability to strategically shift the course of the battle against the group in the area. He also notes that Hezbollah has been the “tip of the spear” in fighting ISIS in the eastern Syrian desert. He also states that, “Hezbollah entered in full force to the battlefronts alongside the Syrian army to confront the takfiri groups from the beginning of [the Syrian civil] war…”

Hezbollah brokers deal to evacuate ISIS fighters, families, and civilians from Syrian-Lebanese border to the border of Iraq, prompting political and military opposition from the United States. U.S. intervention includes air strikes, bombing the road ahead of the convoy to prevent it from reaching its destination of Abu Kamal, and sending humanitarian supplies to the convoy. As part of negotiated agreement with Hezbollah – subsequently accepted by the Assad regime –ISIS’ remaining 310 fighters entirely vacate Syria’s Western Qalamoun and are bused to Abu Kamal on the Syrian-Iraqi border. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army move into the vacated area and begin entrenching themselves in strategic positions in throughout the Western Qalamoun. Nasrallah gives victory speech.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army declare total ceasefire with ISIS in Syria’s Western Qalamoun to go into effect at 7:00 AM, after making significant gains against the Sunni Islamist group.

Hezbollah and Syrian Army seize Shmeis – Tam al-Mal Heights, in the southern sector of the operations in Syria’s Western Qalamoun.

ISIS fighters begin surrendering to Hezbollah and Syrian regime forces as “Operation if You Return We Will Return,” continues into its seventh day.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives a speech on the ongoing operations against ISIS, saying his group takes credit for the battle “in both its Lebanese and Syrian dimensions,” appearing to take credit for the LAF’s operations against ISIS on the Lebanese-Syrian border. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army continue advances against ISIS, including the strategically important Ras al-Shahout crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border, south of Syria’s Western Qalamoun barrens.

Hezbollah and Syrian Army continue “Operation if You Return We Will Return,” against ISIS in Syria’s Western Qalamoun, seizing territory in the northern, eastern, and southern sectors of the area, and capturing and destroying one of the HQs of the local ISIS Emir.

Hezbollah claims to use drones in strikes against Islamic State in Syria, as part of its “Operation if You Return We Will Return,” seizing additional territory from ISIS in Syria’s Western Qalamoun. Kuwaiti security officials arrest the 14^th member of the Abdali Cell, Abdul Muhsin Jamal al-Shatti.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army continue, “Operation If You Return, We Will Return” against ISIS, seizing several areas in Syria’s Western Qalamoun. Hezbollah and the SAF also take the town of Hmeimeh in the eastern Homs countryside.

Hezbollah announces onset of joint assault with SAF on ISIS in Syria-Lebanon border area; LAF denies coordination in the operation while fighting the group in Lebanon’s Ras Baalbek, Al-Qaa, and al-Fakeha. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the SAF launch “Operation If You Return, We Will Return,” making advances against ISIS in Syria’s Western Qalamoun, including seizing the strategically important Mount Mawsil. The territorial goal of the operation is to seize 310 square kilometers from ISIS.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army make advances against ISIS in al-Jarajir and Qara barrens in Syria’s Western Qalamoun, seizing several key points in the area from the Sunni militant group. Hezbollah condemns an ISIS attack in Barcelona.

Kuwaiti security officials arrest Mustafa Abdulnabi Ali Bader Khan, the 13^th member of the Hezbollah-linked Abdali Cell. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives speech on 11^th anniversary of the ceasefire of the July 2006 War with Israel, saying that the Israelis emptied the ammonia tanks in Haifa due to fear of Hezbollah’s rocket capabilities, and should now worry about their nuclear reactor in Dimona.

Hezbollah targets ISIS formation near Khirbet Dawoud, on the Lebanese-Syrian border, with rocket and artillery fire.

Hezbollah opens a virtual target range – the “first of its kind in Lebanon” according to Hezbollah’s military media – at its Mleeta Resistance Tourism Landmark, allowing visitors to engage in simulations of Hezbollah’s battles and operations. Several Hezbollah officials and parliamentarians attend the opening ceremony.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives victory speech after battle of Arsal, in which he says the Lebanese government must “directly coordinate” the repatriation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon with the Assad regime – in essence, attempting to use the refugee issue to restore the political ties between Beirut and the regime in Damascus. Nasrallah also notes that the LAF is responsible for liberating Lebanese territory under ISIS control, but that Hezbollah will be available to provide assistance. He further announces that Hezbollah and the SAF will simultaneously open a front against ISIS in Syria, requiring coordination from the LAF. Nasrallah also denies any connection between Hezbollah and the Abdali Cell.

Lebanese General Directorate of General Security (GDGS) oversees exchange of bodies of fighters between Hezbollah and Nusra Front and begins evacuation of Nusra Front fighters and their families. Hezbollah fighters capture an abandoned M113 APC in Lebanon’s Arsal Barrens, which had previously been seized by Nusra Front from the Lebanese Army in the 2014 Arsal Battle.

Ceasefire negotiated by Abbas Ibrahim among Hezbollah, the Syrian regime, and Nusra Front goes into effect at 06:00 AM local time. Hezbollah pressed its advantage in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, seizing territory from Nusra Front in the early dawn. The agreement allows Nusra fighters and their families to evacuate to Idlib and requires Nusra to return the bodies of 5 Hezbollah fighters.

Nasrallah gives speech on Arsal battle, claiming that negotiations with the Nusra Frontare ongoing, but that the group had turned down offers for a cease-fire, and “serious negotiations” had only begun the day before. He also says that Hezbollah will hand over entire area to Lebanese Army after expelling Nusra, if the LAF requests it. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security, had been in Damascus negotiating the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Syrian officials – including those that would handle the logistic aspects of the transfer of the Nusra militants to Idlib – prior to the speech. Reports indicate that an official from Hezbollah was also present in Syria at the same time as Ibrahim.

Hezbollah’s military media denies reports that the group targeted a field hospital during the clashes in Arsal.

Kuwait submits formal complaint to Lebanon over Hezbollah’s activities in the Gulf state, including its backing of the Abdali Cell.

Hezbollah advances against Nusra Front in Lebanon’s Arsal, seizing territory from the group within Lebanon. Simultaneously, on the Syrian front, the Syrian Army and Hezbollah press against the Nusra Front in Fleita and the Western Qalamoun. Hezbollah, the Syrian regime, and the Nusra Front conduct ceasefire negotiations amidst the fighting through Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security.

Houthi leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi declares that his fighters will reinforce Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria in any future war against Israel.

Hezbollah launches battle in Arsal Barrens – which is partially Lebanese and partially Syrian –against Nusra Front and ISIS militants, along with the Syrian Army. The group begins its assault from within Lebanon on the Sunni militants with an artillery and rocket barrage on Nusra positions in Lebanon’s Dahr al-Hawa, Al-Qaznah, Wadi al-Kheil Heights, and Shaabat al-Nahleh in the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Arsal. Simultaneously, Hezbollah and Syrian Army detachments launch an attack on Sunni militant positions in Al-Dalil Heights, Talat al-Kura, and Talat al-Alam in the Syrian Western Qalamoun’s Fleita outskirts.

Hassan Nasrallah, during his Quds Day 2017 speech, threatens that “thousands, and hundreds of thousands” of Shiite Islamist fighters from across the Arab and Muslim world will fight Israel alongside Hezbollah in a future war.

The United States arrests Samer al-Debek, from Michigan, and Ali Kourani, from the Bronx, on charges of plotting Hezbollah attacks against Israeli and American targets in the United States and Panama.

Hezbollah claims it caught an Iraqi man spying for Israel in Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia and the United States blacklist Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s powerful Executive Council and Hassan Nasrallah’s heir-apparent.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announces the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces from positions on the Syrian-Lebanese border and their handover to the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah’s forces were deployed into Syria to spearhead the campaign to reassert the Syrian regime’s control over its borders with Iraq and Jordan, as well as the cities of Deir Ezzor and Deraa.

Hezbollah holds a provocative media tour of the Israeli-Lebanese border. The next day, Prime Minister Saad Hariri carries out the first visit by a Lebanese premier to south Lebanon in decades, in explicit rejection of Hezbollah’s border tour and presence.

Moroccan authorities arrest Qassem Tajideen, one of Hezbollah’s top financiers. He was later extradited to the United States.

Reports emerge that Iran built a Hezbollah weapons factory in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Russia help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad retake Palmyra from ISIS.

U.S. State Department designates Ali Daamoush and Mustafa Mughniyeh as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224.

The Battle of Aleppo, which began on July 19, 2012, ends in a decisive victory for Assad, Hezbollah, and other forces allied with the Syrian regime.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman says Israel’s airstrikes in Syria are meant to prevent chemical weapons from reaching Hezbollah.

Israel accuses Iran and Hezbollah of smuggling arms in commercial flights through Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport. The head of the airport’s security denies the claims.

Hezbollah holds a large military parade in Syria’s Al-Qusayr, flaunting U.S.-made M113 APCs, but also Russian-made T-55 tanks. Israel claims the Lebanese Army gave the U.S.-supplied APCs to Hezbollah, but U.S. investigations proved this claim to be false. It appears that the military equipment on display was taken from the SLA, civil war surplus, or forcibly seized from the LAF in the 1980s.

Hezbollah’s ally Michel Aoun is elected president of Lebanon. Iran declares his election a “victory for Nasrallah.” UAE sentences seven people to life in prison for establishing a terror cell linked to Hezbollah.

Saudi Arabia designates two individuals and one organization for links to Hezbollah. The United States Treasury Department sanctions four Hezbollah operatives and a firm, and the State Department followed suit with sanctions against Hezbollah Special Forces commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai for activities in Syria and Yemen.

Israeli security forces thwart a Hezbollah terror plot to plant bombs in the Haifa area.

Mohammad Hassan Hamdan, a resident of Dearborn, Michigan, pleads guilty to planning to travel to Lebanon and fighting for Hezbollah in Syria.

Brazilian police arrest Fadi Hassan Nabha, a former Hezbollah member, on drug-trafficking charges.

Reports emerge that Hezbollah is training Afghan Shiites as snipers to fight for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Hezbollah cancels its Quds Day activities for the first time, citing heightened security concerns from the Syrian Civil War fallout.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah says he is sending more fighters to Aleppo and downplays the impact of U.S. banking sanctions on Hezbollah’s finances.

Hezbollah is suspected of placing explosives outside of Lebanon’s BLOM Bank in central Beirut, to dissuade it from complying with U.S. banking sector sanctions on the group.

Lebanese banks close 100 Hezbollah-linked bank accounts and say 3,000 more are on the way.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army take Eastern Ghouta from rebel forces.

Lebanon’s Central Bank governor says Lebanese banks must comply with HIFPA, and banks begin suspending hundreds of Hezbollah-linked bank accounts.

Hezbollah’s military commander Mustafa Badreddine is killed in Syria, becoming the group’s most important casualty in the civil war. Former Argentine President Carlos Menem claims Hezbollah killed his son on March 15, 1995.

Hezbollah claims victory in local elections in heavily-Shiite eastern Lebanon areas, but does not fare so well in Beirut.

Reports emerge that senior Hezbollah commanders are sending their sons to Europe to ensure they are not sent to fight in Syria.

The Arab Parliament designates Hezbollah as a terror organization.

Bahrain becomes the latest Gulf Country to label Hezbollah a terror organization, following a similar designation by the UAE.

Persian Gulf states begin expelling dozens of Lebanese expats for ties to Hezbollah.

Cairo-based NileSat, one of the leading Arab satellite operators, drops Al-Manar.

Satellite images reveal what appears to be a Hezbollah missile base in Syria’s Qusayr.

The Arab League officially lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council – including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar – labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization, opening up the possibility of further sanctions against the group. Saudi Arabia cuts its military aid to the Lebanese Army.

The Yemeni government says Hezbollah is fighting alongside Houthi rebels.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatens to bomb Haifa’s ammonia tanks in a future war with Israel.

The DEA announces arrest of four Hezbollah operatives who were using millions in cocaine proceeds to fund the group’s terror activities and its operations in Syria.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions two men – Mohammad Noureddine and Hamdi Zahereddine – and a company for laundering money on behalf of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah field commanders claim they are receiving heavy weapons directly from Russia, with no strings attached.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions Lebanese financier Ali Youssef Charara and his telecommunications company for financial ties to Hezbollah.

Bahrain says it has arrested an Iranian and Hezbollah-linked terror cell planning attacks in its territory.

Hezbollah attacks two Israeli military vehicles in response to the killing of Samir Kuntar in Syria. Israel responds by firing artillery shells into south Lebanon.

President Barack Obama signs HIFPA of 2015 into law. Samir Kuntar is killed in Syria in an Israeli airstrike.

Hezbollah launches a large recruitment drive, targeting men as young as 17, as their losses in Syria mount amidst deepening involvement in the neighboring country’s conflict.

Congress passes the “Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 (HIFPA),” imposing tough sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with Hezbollah.

Saudi-based ArabSat – one of the Middle East’s main satellite TV providers – stops broadcasting Al-Manar.

Two explosions – carried out by ISIS – rip through the Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood of Hezbollah’s south Beirut suburbs stronghold. The two ISIS suicide bombers killed 43 people and wounded 239. Israel raises Hezbollah rocket estimate to 150,000, most of which are Katyushas, but including some long-range missiles.

Hassan Hussein al-Haj is killed fighting opposition forces in Idlib. He is the most senior Hezbollah figure to be killed in the Syrian Civil War up to that date.

U.S. prosecutors indict Iman Kobeisi and Joseph Asmar with plotting to launder drug money and broker other illegal deals for Hezbollah.

Russia begins official military involvement in the Syrian Civil War, a move which Hezbollah said it would welcome on September 25.

Ahmad Ibrahim al-Mughassil, a senior Hezbollah operative involved in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, is arrested in Beirut and flown to Saudi Arabia to face prosecution. Hezbollah throws its support behind anti-government protests raging in Lebanon.

Kuwait arrests three members of a larger terrorist cell – known as the Abdali Cell [Khaliyat al-Abdali] –tied to Hezbollah, which was planning to carry out attacks in the country. The cell had stockpiled a large number of weapons and ammunition in their homes. Kuwaiti authorities would eventually discover that the cell was comprised of 25 Kuwaitis and one Iranian.

ISIS attacks Hezbollah near Qusayr and claims that it killed “dozens” of them. Hezbollah issues a denial. The United States Treasury Department sanctions three Hezbollah officials – Mustafa Badreddine, Fouad Shukur, and Ibrahim Akil – and businessman Abdel Nur Shalan.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army launch an operation to take the town of Zabadani, ending in a ceasefire with significant gains for the pro-regime forces. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army claim to have taken 85% of the city – the opposition said they only took 75% – and the next day rebel forces besiege the city.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announces that Hezbollah is fighting ISIS in the Qalamoun Mountains. The United States Treasury Department sanctions three Lebanese men – Adham Tabaja, Qassem Hojeij, and Hussein Ali Faour – and their businesses over links to Hezbollah.

Cyprus police arrest Hussein Bassam Abdallah, who was tasked by Hezbollah to plan attacks against Israeli targets in Europe. Abdallah, a dual Lebanese-Canadian citizen, was later sentenced to six years in prison by a Cypriot court.

Saudi Arabia sanctions Hezbollah military leaders Khalil Youssef Harb and Mohammad Qablan.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah says the organization may call for a “general mobilization” to fight ISIS in Syria.

Hezbollah leads another offensive in the Qalamoun Mountains alongside the Syrian Army, emerging victorious and recapturing most of the mountainous Lebanese-Syrian border region, pushing rebel forces to the outskirts of Arsal.

Nasrallah admits that Hezbollah has sent fighters to Iraq to fight ISIS.

Hezbollah spearheads an operation with the Syrian Army south of Damascus, taking Deir al-Adas, Deir Maker, Tal al-Arous, and Tal al-Sarjeh from the Nusra Front.

Hezbollah kills two Israeli soldiers – Cpt. Yochai Kalangel and Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini – on the Lebanese-Israeli border, in retaliation for the strike that killed Jihad Mughniyeh. Israel responds with artillery fire against south Lebanon, accidentally killing a Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper. Hezbollah immediately sends calming messages to the Israelis via intermediaries saying it did not want escalation and the matter was closed. Nasrallah gives a speech two days later saying Hezbollah does not want a war with Israel but doesn’t fear it either.

Israel carries out a strike in the Golan Heights against a Hezbollah convoy, killing six individuals. One was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s late terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyeh.

Nasrallah admits an Israeli spy infiltrated Hezbollah but attempts to downplay the importance of the security breach.

Hezbollah claims it has uncovered a Lebanese businessman working as a Mossad spy operating within its ranks. Hezbollah says the spy had been working for Israel for years and helped thwart several of the group’s revenge operations for the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh.

Iran claims it has given Hezbollah “precise and long-range” weapons that “can reach [Israel’s nuclear reactor] in Dimona.” Hezbollah confirms it received these “pinpoint accurate” weapons from Iran a day later.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah declares that Hezbollah is still ready and able to fight Israel despite its involvement in Syria’s Civil War.

Hezbollah operative Mohammad Amadar is arrested in Peru, after being allegedly tasked by the group to target Jews and Israelis in the country.

Hezbollah detonates a bomb on the Lebanese-Israeli border, wounding two Israeli soldiers. The IDF responds with cross-border shelling.

Hezbollah and Nusra Front clash on the Lebanese-Syrian border, leading to the death of two Hezbollah and 16 Nusra fighters.

Dino Bouterse, the president of Suriname’s son, pleads guilty to offering Hezbollah a base in his country to attack U.S. targets.

Hezbollah commander Ibrahim al-Hajj is killed while “fulfilling his jihadi duty” in Iraq.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions Beirut-based Stars Group Holding, which it said purchased electronics and other technology via a network of offices in the UAE and China for making sophisticated military equipment for Hezbollah, including materials for aerial drones.

Fawzi Ayoub, a 47-year old Lebanese-Canadian citizen and resident of Detroit on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terror suspects, is reportedly killed fighting in Syria.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, formerly sympathetic to Hezbollah, urges the group to withdraw from Syria.

Thailand arrests two Hezbollah members – Daoud Farhat and Youssef Ayad – planning attacks on Israeli tourists.

Germany bans the “Orphaned Children Project-Lebanon” group over ties to Hezbollah, saying it raised $4.5 million for the terror group.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah declares that Bashar al-Assad’s regime is no longer in danger of falling.

Battles rages between Hezbollah and Salafists in Beirut’s predominantly Sunni Tariq al-Jdideh neighborhood, prompting the LAF to deploy troops to calm the violence. Days earlier, similar sectarian clashes in Tripoli killed 25 people.

Sunni-Shiite clashes erupt across Lebanon over Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian Civil War. Bulgaria declares that it is certain Hezbollah was behind the 2012 Burgas bus bombing and identifies a third suspect trained in south Lebanon.

The Third Phase of the Battle of Qalamoun begins. The battle ends with a decisive Assad regime and Hezbollah victory, who, together, took almost full control of the Qalamoun mountains region on the Syrian-Lebanese border – linking Damascus to Hezbollah’s Beqaa stronghold – including the Al-Nabek and Yabroud districts.

A suicide car bomb in the village of al-Nabi Othman, in the Hezbollah-dominated Beqaa Valley, kills four people, including local Hezbollah leader Abdul Rahman al-Qadhi. Nusra Front claimed the attack.

Syrian troops and Hezbollah seize rebel supply town of Yabroud, near the Syria-Lebanon border.

IDF troops fire on two Hezbollah fighters trying to plant a bomb on the fence dividing the Israeli-held portion of the Golan Heights from the Syrian side.

The second phase of the battle of Qalamoun begins.

Nusra Front carries out suicide car bombing in Hezbollah-controlled Hermel, killing four and wounding 15.

The Nusra Front carries out car bombing in Haret Hreik, a neighborhood in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, killing four people and wounding 35.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon begins trial-in-absentia of four Hezbollah members suspected of murdering Rafic Hariri.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon denies reports that Hezbollah has acquired Russian-made Yakhont advanced anti-ship missiles.

ISIS begins its rise by taking control of Fallujah in Iraq, and the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Car bombing in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Hezbollah’s stronghold in suburbs of south Beirut kills five, wounds 60. U.S. officials say Hezbollah has acquired Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles.

Anti-Assad Lebanese MP Mohammad Chattah – a Sunni Muslim – is killed in a car bombing in Beirut. Saad Hariri implicitly blames Hezbollah for the attack.

Hassan Laqis, a senior Hezbollah commander, is gunned down in his home in the south Beirut suburb neighborhood of Hadath, in the group’s Dahiyeh stronghold. Laqis was Hezbollah’s master technician and logistics expert. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack, but Jerusalem denies responsibility. The attack comes one day after Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of responsibility for the attack outside Beirut’s Iranian Embassy.

Twin Al-Qaeda bombings target Iran’s embassy in Beirut, killing 23 and wounding 140 others. Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem vows that Hezbollah will not be deterred from supporting Assad.

The first phase of the battle of Qalamoun is launched. The opposition claims Hezbollah deployed 15,000 fighters.

Nasrallah makes a rare public appearance, vowing to keep Hezbollah’s forces in Syria until Assad emerges victorious in the Syrian Civil War.

Twin car bombings target anti-Assad Sunni mosques in Tripoli, Lebanon, killing 47.The attack was the deadliest since the end of the Lebanese Civil War. Al-Qaeda’s North African branch blames Hezbollah and threatens retaliation.

Sunni militant group calling itself “Battalions of Ayesha” detonates a bomb in Hezbollah’s stronghold in south Beirut, killing 22 people and wounding 228. The group promises more attacks against Hezbollah for its involvement in Syria.

Hezbollah carries out an IED attack against IDF troops on the Lebanese-Israeli border, wounding four soldiers. One week later, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah claims responsibility for the attack.

The European Union adds Hezbollah’s “military wing” to its terror list.

An explosion strikes a Hezbollah convoy carrying the group’s security officials in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. Three Hezbollah members are injured in the attack.

A group called the “313 Brigade” claims responsibility for an attack in Beirut targeting Hezbollah members and wounding 53 people.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) accuses Hezbollah and the Syrian Army of using chemical weapons in an attack on the town of Zamalka, outside of Damascus.

Clashes erupt again between followers of Salafist sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and Hezbollah in Sidon. Automatic rifles and RPGs are used in the confrontations.

The Gulf Cooperation Council pledges sanctions against Hezbollah for its role in the Syrian Civil War.

Hezbollah supporters shoot and kill Hisham Salman, an anti-Assad protester, in Beirut at a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy. They also attack other anti-Assad demonstrators, injuring several.

The Arab League condemns Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syria. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army take Qusayr from rebel forces.

The Gulf Cooperation Council labels Hezbollah a terror organization.

Hezbollah deploys 2,000 fighters around Aleppo in support of Bashar al-Assad’s forces. A Hezbollah commander announces that the group had deployed “no more than 10,000” fighters in Syria, 3,000 of them in Qusayr alone.

Syrian rebels fire 18 rockets into the Hezbollah-controlled Baalbek region in response to the group’s involvement in Qusayr. This volley happens six days after two rockets were fired into Hezbollah-controlled south Beirut.

Hezbollah bolsters forces in the Syrian town of Qusayr, sending 1,700 fighters to support Assad’s forces in retaking the strategic town.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah admits Hezbollah has been fighting on behalf of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War. Hezbollah’s regional popularity begins to plummet.

Hezbollah’s Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed says Hezbollah will not intervene in Syrian conflict but would act to prevent Israel and the United States from intervening.

The IAF shoots down a drone off the coast of Haifa. Israel accuses Hezbollah of sending the drone, but the group denies responsibility.

Bahrain’s parliament labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

A terror suspect arrested in Cyprus days before Burgas bombing admits Hezbollah ties, and says he was tasked by the group with staking out Israeli targets.

Three Hezbollah fighters are killed in clashes on the Lebanese-Syrian border with opposition forces.

Hezbollah is linked to the Burgas bus bombing by Bulgarian officials after a six-month investigation.

Israel begins carrying out clandestine airstrikes in Syria to prevent the transfer of “game-changing” weapons to Hezbollah. Hours earlier, Syrian opposition sources accused Hezbollah of military intervention in support of the Assad regime and attacking three villages in the Qusayr region, leading to civilian casualties and the exodus of hundreds of people.

Armed clashes erupt between Sunni supporters of Salafist sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and Shiite supporters of Hezbollah in Sidon, after Assir called on his followers to remove Hezbollah banners in the city. Month earlier, Assir had threatened Nasrallah because of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian Civil War and its suspected involvement in the murder of Wissam al-Hassan.

Pressure in Lebanon mounts against Hezbollah as indications increase that it has gone beyond mere verbal support for the Assad regime and has become a partisan to the Syrian Civil War.

Lebanese Army’s Major General Wissam al-Hassan, a Lebanese intelligence chief and key Lebanese Sunni leader aligned with March 14 and Hariri’s Mustaqbal bloc, is assassinated. Hezbollah denies accusations of being behind the attack and keeps a low profile as enraged Sunni gunmen take to the streets of Beirut after al-Hassan’s funeral. However, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem warns against international involvement in the investigation of Hassan’s murder, as an FBI team lands in Beirut to assist in the investigation. Sunni politicians call for the downfall of the Mikati government but, as Mustaqbal’s Nouhad Machnouk noted, “we mean Hezbollah.”

Near-daily clashes occur between Hezbollah fighters and the Free Syrian Army on the Lebanese-Syrian border. Syrian activists continue accusing Hezbollah’s forces of being directly involved in Bashar Al-Assad’s 19-month effort to crush the rebel uprising, and say the group was transporting weapons and ammunition across the border “day and night” in ambulances and other civilian vehicles.

Hezbollah admits launching a drone over Israel, flying in from over the Mediterranean. The organization claims that the parts of the drone were made in Iran, but assembled in Lebanon, and had flown over “sensitive sites,” in Israel before being shot down by Israeli F-16s north of the Negev. Hassan Nasrallah denies Hezbollah’s involvement in fighting alongside Assad’s forces in the Syrian Civil War, saying the party has yet to decide on entering the battle. However, he claims that some Lebanese living near the Syrian-Lebanese border may have entered Syria in support of the regime, “to defend themselves,” and that while his party “has nothing to do with their decision, I cannot tell them not to go fight.”

Al-Arabiya reveals documents seized from Syrian intelligence, one of which – dated December 12, 2005 – indicates that Hezbollah’s intelligence units helped the Syrian regime assassinate Gebran Tueni, Editor-in-Chief of An-Nahar.

Three Hezbollah fighters are killed in a blast at a depot in Nabi Sheet, 18 miles south of Baalbek, used to store unexploded Israeli munitions.

Hezbollah commander Ali Hussein Naseef’s body is returned to Lebanon after he was killed with other group members fighting in Syria’s Qusair a day earlier. Naseef was a high-ranking member and founder of the Shiite group. A Lebanese security official notes that the bodies of several other Hezbollah fighters had been returned to Lebanon from Syria over the past few days. Hezbollah sources did not confirm where Naseef had been killed, only that he had died “while performing his jihadi duties,” a euphemism which has since been routinely applied to its fighters who have died in Syria. They also say Hezbollah was carrying out recruitment efforts in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley to send fighters to Syria.

American and Lebanese officials claim Hezbollah has ramped up its support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime, sending him military advisers to assist with the battle against opposition forces. Lebanese officials also claim that Hezbollah’s fighters were fighting and dying in the conflict to save Assad, citing the increasing number of Hezbollah graves being quietly dug, with the families of the “martyrs” being warned by the party not to discuss the circumstances of their sons’ deaths.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives rare public address, calling for supporters to protest a film mocking the Islamic prophet Mohammad, saying their anger should not be directed at Christians, but towards the United States and Israel. Diplomats from the U.S. Embassy in Beirutbegin destroying classified material as a security precaution amid the anti-American protests.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions senior officials of Hezbollah, including Hassan Nasrallah, Talal Hamiyeh and Mustafa Badreddine for supporting the Assad regime, pursuant to Executive Orders 13582 and 13224.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives interview to Al-Mayadeen denying Hezbollah has chemical weapons but claims Hezbollah can strike “targets in Israel that will lead to the same result,” and make Israel suffer in a future war.

The defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank continues to deny any connection to Hezbollah.

The United States seizes $150 million linked to Hezbollah money laundering through the Lebanese-Canadian Bank(LCB).

The United States Treasury Department sanctions Hezbollah for involvement in the Syrian Civil War and support of the Assad regime. This action added Hezbollah to a U.S. blacklist associated with an executive order signed by President Barack Obama in August of 2011, which targeted the government of Syria and its supporters.

Hezbollah’s Mousa Ali Chehimi is killed “carrying out his jihadi duty,” i.e. while fighting on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Hezbollah does not officially acknowledge the circumstances of his death. He is buried two days later, with Hezbollah parliamentarians in attendance.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman says that any attempt by Hezbollah to obtain non-conventional weapons would be a “red line” and “casus belli” for Israel.

U.S. officials identify suicide bomber of Burgas Bus as the member of a Hezbollah cell operating in Bulgaria.

Hezbollah operative bombs a bus in Burgas, Bulgaria carrying forty-two Israelis – mostly youths. Six people are killed, and 32 injured.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah denies Hezbollah’s role in the bombing of the Israeli targets.

Israeli diplomatic assets in India, Georgia and Thailand are attacked. Hezbollah is suspected of involvement.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah acknowledges for the first time that his movement received financial and material support from Iran but denies that it took instructions or orders from the Islamic Republic.

Western intelligence assessments indicate Hezbollah is exploiting the Syrian Civil War to obtain advanced weapons, including long-range rockets and Russian-made air-defense systems. The IDF begins working under the assumption that Hezbollah has obtained long-range surface-to-air missile systems from Syria, like SA-8s, with a range of 30 kilometers. That same day, Samir Geagea, the head of the Lebanese Forces party, calls on Hezbollah to accept a “historic deal” and disarm, as Assad’s regime is doomed to fail.

Hezbollah begins quietly digging more graves for fighters killed in Syria, even as it publicly continues to deny its involvement in the neighboring country’s civil war.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon hands over indictments and four arrest warrants to Lebanon, and Hariri urges Mikati’s government to cooperate.

Several U.S. businesses, including two based in Maryland, are sued by the Federal government over helping Hezbollah launder money via cocaine and used car sales.

Hezbollah reveals the names of what it alleges were members of a CIA spy-ring operating in Lebanon. The disclosure comes after Hezbollah claims that it managed to partially unravel the Agency’s spy network in Lebanon by running a double agent against the CIA, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Nasrallah had bragged earlier in June that his group had identified at least two CIA spies, and called the U.S. Embassy in Beirut a “den of spies.” Meanwhile, in Alexandria, VA, Ayman Joumaa is indicted on charges of drug and money laundering on behalf of Hezbollah, and The New York Times publishes a report pointing to the “direct involvement of high-level Hezbollah officials in the South American cocaine trade.”

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah makes his first public appearance since the 2006 war, to give a live address to his supporters on Ashoura. His public appearance lasts only a few minutes, after which he gives a televised speech. During the speech, he says the group will never give up its arms, boasting Hezbollah has “tens of thousands of trained fighters, all ready to die,” to protect its arms. Though he says he supports reform in Syria, he lashes out at the Syrian opposition for warning that a new Syrian government would cut its special relationship with Iran and Hezbollah.

The CIA reportedly shuts down its Lebanon operations after Hezbollah counterintelligence allegedly uncovers the Agency’s networks in the country.

Hassan Nasrallah threatens in “Martyr’s Day” speech that a U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran would ignite a regional war.

Hezbollah buries its fighter Hussein Ali Samaha, who died “fulfilling his jihadi duty,” a euphemism for dying while fighting in Syria. At the time, Hezbollah had yet to acknowledge its participation in the Syrian Civil War.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon publicly releases its indictment of those allegedly responsible for former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination, naming four Hezbollah members – including Mustafa Badreddine.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon names four Hezbollah men as wanted for former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri’s murder: Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra.

Mikati forms a new Lebanese government made up exclusively of Hezbollah and its political allies.

Leaked Israeli diplomatic cables reveal that Jerusalem expects the next war with Hezbollah to be “much more painful.” According to the Israeli assessment, the war with Hezbollah will last two months, and Jerusalem expects the group to launch 24,000-36,000 rockets at Israel – 6,000 of them at Tel Aviv alone – at a rate of 100 missiles per day.

The IDF releases a military map detailing a target-bank of more than 950 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon.

The Syrian Civil War begins.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Saad Hariri’s toppled government rally in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square against Hezbollah’s weapons.

The UK designates Hezbollah’s External Security Organization as a terror group.

Israel temporarily shuts down its embassy in Ankara and Israeli consulate in Istanbul following Hezbollah’s threats to avenge the death of slain commander Imad Mughniyeh. Israeli embassies worldwide are placed on heightened alert.

During a tour of the northern border, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatens that the IDF may have to reenter Lebanon to remind Hezbollah of “the heavy beating they suffered from us in 2006.” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatens in a speech on the “Anniversary of the Martyred Leaders,” that Hezbollah will invade and “liberate” Israel’s Galilee in the next war.

The United States Treasury Department accuses Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank – one of Lebanon’s largest financial institutions – of laundering millions of dollars for a multinational drug trafficking organization with ties to Hezbollah. The bank denied knowledge of wrongdoing and promised full cooperation.

Hezbollah nominee Najib Mikati is named as Lebanon’s new prime minister-designate and is tasked with forming a government after the Shiite group and its allies collapsed the national unity government of Saad Hariri 13 days earlier. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Hezbollah’s domination of the new government would affect bilateral U.S.-Lebanon ties. Throughout Lebanon, thousands rally against Mikati accepting the premiership, saying his appointment threatens the equities of Lebanese Sunnis.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon prosecutor issues sealed indictments over Hariri’s assassination. These indictments are later revised.

Hezbollah ministers and political allies resign, bringing down Saad Hariri’s government, over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s investigation into former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri’s murder.

Iran reportedly cuts Hezbollah’s aid by 40%

Wikileaks publishes U.S. Embassy Damascus cable revealing that Hezbollah has military facilities in Syria.

Lebanese political officer and UN investigators unearth circumstantial evidence linking Hezbollah to Rafic Hariri’s assassination.

Hezbollah urges all Lebanese to boycott the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon inquiry and accuses investigators of sending information to Israel.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Lebanon, in a show of support for Tehran’s proxy Hezbollah.

New Zealand designates Hezbollah’s military wing as a terror group, renewing the designation twice: on October 2, 2013, and September 26, 2016.

UN prosecutor investigating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination urges Hezbollah to hand over information that the organization claimed implicated Israel in Hariri’s murder.

Fears of domestic unrest in Lebanon rise as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictment nears. Hezbollah attempts to discredit the Tribunal amid indications its members would be accused of murdering former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Hezbollah accuses Israel of assassinating former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrives in Lebanon, jointly with Saudi King Abdullah, to defuse tensions and violence that erupted after reports indicated the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set to implicate Hezbollah members in former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination.

Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, often regarded as Hezbollah’s spiritual guide, dies at age 74.

Hezbollah mobilizes thousands of fighters ahead of an Israeli military drill across the border.

Israel claims a shipment of North Korean weapons seized a year earlier in Thailand was intended for Hezbollah.

Israeli defense officials claim Syria delivered M600 rockets – a Syrian copy of the Iranian Fateh-110 – to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah opens its “Mleeta Resistance Tourism Landmark.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accuses Syria of arming Hezbollah with advanced weapons, alleged by Israel to be SCUD missiles.

Reports indicate Syria transferred SCUD missiles to Hezbollah.

Satellite images reveal Hezbollah training at a Syrian Army SCUD missile base near Damascus.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah travels to Damascus again, and meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Three men are charged in Miami with financing Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah reveals the party’s 2009 Political Document. According to later comments by Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem, the new document is intended to update the 1985 Open Letter, but does not abrogate any of its principles or Hezbollah’s commitment to Wilayat al-Faqih.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah travels to Damascus and meets with Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

Hezbollah finishes its eighth conclave and says it will announce a new political document in the coming days.

Hariri’s March 14 coalition defeats Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement in parliamentary elections. Hariri is appointed Prime Minister-designate and forms a unity government on November 9.

Egypt announces that, in November 2008, it dismantled and arrested a terror cell, including members of Hezbollah, which was planning attacks against Israeli and Egyptian targets in the Sinai.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon begins operations in The Hague.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech condemning Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, but says his party would not open south Lebanon as another front against the IDF – unlike in 2006.

Hezbollah shoots down an LAF helicopter overflying one of its strongholds in south Lebanon, killing the pilot, Captain Samer Hanna.  Hezbollah calls the incident “tragic,” and hands over the pilot’s killer to Lebanese authorities. Lebanon’s Defense Minister Elias Murr moves to quickly absolve the group.

Hezbollah signs an agreement with the Salafi movement in Lebanon, outlining efforts to “confront America.”

Hezbollah and Israel complete prisoner swap. Hezbollah returns the bodies of servicemen Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser – who’s kidnapping touched off the Second Lebanon War – in exchange for convicted murderer Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah fighters captured by Israeli troops during the Second Lebanon War, and the bodies of hundreds of Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab fighters who had died fighting Israeli forces.

Lebanese leaders agree on a unity government that gives effective veto power to Hezbollah and its allies.

UK extends terror designation to Hezbollah’s entire military apparatus, including its Jihadi Council.

The Doha Agreement is reached by rival Lebanese factions, ending the country’s 18-month political crisis, but also offering Hezbollah a resounding victory, granting its demand for one-third veto in the Lebanese cabinet.

The 2008 conflict in Lebanon begins. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government moves to shut down Hezbollah’s telecommunications network and dismiss Wafiq Shqeir, the pro-Hezbollah security chief at Beirut International Airport, who was accused of installing cameras for the group on airport lane number 17 to allow it to monitor travelers. The next day, armed pro-Hezbollah demonstrators move to take over West Beirut. Nasrallah appears on TV calling the government’s decision to move against Hezbollah a “declaration of war,” leading to the outbreak of clashes between Hezbollah “black shirts” and gunmen loyal to Saad Hariri’s Future Movement. Hezbollah roundly defeats them, seizing large swathes of the city, before handing those areas over to the LAF. The fighting ended when the LAF pledged to allow Hezbollah to maintain is telecoms network and reinstall the airport security chief.

The Mossad and CIA assassinate Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh using a car bomb in Damascus.

The LAF head of operations Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj is assassinated after a car bomb detonates in Beirut.

Presidential term of Emile Lahoud – a staunch ally of Syria and Hezbollah – comes to an end.

The United States sanctions two Hezbollah NGOs – The Good Loan (Al-Qard al-Hassan) and the Martyr’s Foundation (Mu’assassat al-Shahid).

Two anti-Syrian Lebanese parliamentarians are assassinated by car bombs in Beirut.

The LAF confiscates a weapons truck from Hezbollah. The group demands its return, but the LAF refuses – arguing that the confiscated weapons would be used by Hezbollah to confront the IDF in the south.

In a speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah calls for a general strike, which cripples Lebanon. The strike escalates into civil unrest and violence, including use of snipers, automatic weapons, and destruction of property, reminiscent of the Lebanese Civil War. Nasrallah, in an unprecedented move, calls on his supporters and all Lebanese to immediately vacate the streets and restore calm.

Hezbollah and its FPM allies begin massive sit-ins in Beirut, demanding a national unity government where the opposition would possess one-third veto power.

Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel – an anti-Syrian politician who is a member of the March 14-allied Kataeb Party – is gunned down. Hezbollah’s involvement is suspected.

Talks over giving Hezbollah and its allies more power in the government collapse, leading to resignation of five pro-Syrian ministers loyal to Hezbollah and the Amal movement.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions the Islamic Resistance Support Association, one of Hezbollah’s fundraising arms.

The UN Security Council passes Resolution 1701, prohibiting Hezbollah from operating south of the Litani River.

The Second Lebanon War begins after Hezbollah launches a cross-border raid into northern Israel, killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two – Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – to exchange them for the release of Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese Druze serving a life-sentence in Israeli prison for the 1979 murder of Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter, Einat. The 34 day war ends in a stalemate. 121 Israeli soldiers and 44 civilians are killed by Hezbollah. 43 Lebanese security personnel and almost 1,200 Lebanese civilians die as a result of Israeli operations. As many as 800 Hezbollah fighters are killed by the IDF during the operation.

Lebanese TV station LBCI airs a satirical episode mocking Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, prompting angry demonstrators to threaten to burn down the TV station’s headquarters. Nasrallah has to intervene to calm the crowd.

Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel, wounding an Israeli soldier, likely in retaliation for the killing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Mahmoud al-Majzoub by a car bomb in Sidon. Israel responds with airstrikes, killing two of the group’s fighters.

Hezbollah signs memorandum of understanding with General Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), solidifying its alliance with the future president of Lebanon.

Five Hezbollah fighters attack an IDF outpost in Ghajar and are killed by paratroopers manning the position. Israeli Air Force jets retaliate with strikes on Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, and Hezbollah responds with firing mortars and rockets into northern Israel, wounding nine soldiers and two civilians.

International investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri submits a report to UN Security Council, with its preliminary findings implicating high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese officials in Hariri’s murder.

Hezbollah’s military chief Imad Mughniyeh visits the Gaza Strip after Israel’s August 15 – September 12, 2005 disengagement and withdrawal. Mughniyeh entered via a tunnel from Egyptian Rafah, and met with Ahmad Jaabari, then the deputy commander of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades.

Hezbollah mortar fire kills an Israeli soldier, prompting retaliatory Israeli Air Force raids against Hezbollah in south Lebanon. Hezbollah responds with an attack in the Shebaa Farms, wounding six IDF soldiers, leading to an Israeli reprisal strike that kills a Hezbollah fighter.

Lebanese parliamentary elections end in victory for March 14 anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad Hariri.

International investigation into Hariri’s assassination begins.

Israeli paratroopers open fire on a three-man Hezbollah unit attempting to infiltrate Israel, killing one.

The last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon.

Trad Hamade, a sympathizer and non-official member of Hezbollah, is appointed as Minister of Labor in Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s cabinet, a first for the group.

Hezbollah kidnaps two Israeli Arab citizens from border town of Ghajar, interrogating them for four days before releasing them.

Hezbollah organizes a pro-Syrian demonstration of half a million of its supporters and sympathizers.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and 21 others are killed in a roadside bombing, initiating a series of assassinations and bombings of Lebanese anti-Syrian politicians and figures. Hezbollah and Syria are suspected of responsibility.

A Hezbollah roadside bomb in northern Israel kills one IDF soldier.

The United States bans al-Manar.

The French government bans Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV from broadcasting in France.

250,000 Lebanese – one-third of whom were Hezbollah supporters – demonstrate against Resolution 1559.

Hezbollah flies a Mirsad-1 drone from south Lebanon into northern Israel for approximately 20 minutes, returning to Lebanon before the IAF could intercept it.

UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1559 which, among other things, implicitly calls for disarming Hezbollah.

Hezbollah official Ghaleb Awwali is assassinated by a car bomb allegedly planted by Israeli intelligence agents. Hezbollah retaliates the next day with sniper fire on IDF border posts, killing two soldiers. The IAF returns fire on Hezbollah positions in Ayta al-Shaab, killing one fighter.

Hezbollah holds its seventh conclave and appoints Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah as the head of the Jihadi Council.

The LAF fires on Hezbollah demonstrators throwing rocks at them, killing five and wounding several others, prompting riots throughout Hezbollah’s south Beirut Dahiyeh stronghold. Nasrallah accuses the U.S. Embassy in Beirut of prompting the violence. Nasrallah then meets with Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, prompting a governmental condemnation of the shootings by Lebanese security forces.

Hezbollah and Israel engage in a cross-border clash. The Israelis claim Hezbollah shelled Israeli outposts in the Shebaa Farms, and IDF forces retaliate with overnight fire. Hezbollah claims an Israeli patrol infiltrated Lebanese territory.

Israel and Hezbollah exchange prisoners. Hezbollah returns Elchanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers. Israel releases hundreds of Arab and Lebanese prisoners, including Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, the Imam of the south Lebanon village of Jibchit who was regarded as the ‘spiritual leader’ of the Islamic Amal faction of proto-Hezbollah, and Mustafa Dirani, a former high-ranking Amal Movement official who established the “Believing Resistance” faction after being expelled by Amal and establishing contact with Iranian officials.

Hezbollah fires anti-tank missiles on an Israeli military bulldozer that crossed the Blue Line to clear explosives, killing one IDF soldier. The Israeli Air Force retaliates with airstrikes the next day on Hezbollah bases in the Bekaa Valley, causing an unknown number of casualties.

Hezbollah fires antitank missiles on an IDF post, killing one soldier with small arms fire.

Hezbollah anti-aircraft shells fired into northern Israel kill an Israeli teenager and wound four civilians.

Hezbollah fires rockets at three Israeli military positions in the Shebaa Farms, one day after one of its members – Ali Hussein Saleh – was assassinated by a car bombing in Beirut believed to be conducted by Israeli intelligence.

Hezbollah fires anti-aircraft shells into Israel, killing two Israeli civilians in the town of Shlomi, in northern Israel.

Hezbollah snipers kill two IDF soldiers at a border post; the IDF retaliates with tank fire on a Hezbollah position, killing one fighter.

Hezbollah attacks IDF positions in the Shebaa Farms with rocket, mortar, and small arms fire, killing one soldier and wounding five.

U.S. invades Iraq and Hezbollah forms Unit 3800 – its military branch responsible for operations in Iraq.

Canada designates Hezbollah as a terror organization.

The Israeli Air Force bombs multiple targets in Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon, and Hezbollah responds with rocket fire on Kiryat Shmona, killing two Israeli civilians.

Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem confirms to The Daily Star that the organization is in the process of updating its Open Letter.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah makes his infamous speech saying that the Jews gathering in Israel spared the group going after them worldwide. During that speech, he also noted that the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq would spell the end of America’s regional hegemony.

Cross-border rocket fire from Hezbollah kills one IDF soldier and injures two.

Two fighters infiltrate Israel from Lebanon and open fire on Israeli civilian vehicles traveling on the Shlomi-Matzuva road. Six Israelis are killed, and one is injured. Israeli intelligence believes Hezbollah was responsible, but the group does not claim the attack at the time. Years later, Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility, but Hezbollah-affiliated media outlets say Hezbollah aided them in their mission.

Hezbollah ends its sixth conclave, electing Hassan Nasrallah as Secretary-General for life, and places its media operations under his direct control in order to expand its propaganda outreach. Imad Mughniyeh is elected to the Shura Council. The group officially decides to update the Open Letter.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) retaliates with strikes in Lebanon, killing three Syrian soldiers and one Lebanese soldier. Hezbollah responds by shelling northern Israel, and the IAF in return launches strikes on the group’s positions.

Hezbollah fighters fire anti-tank missiles and mortar shells at IDF positions, killing two soldiers.

Hezbollah fires an anti-tank missile at an IDF tank in the Shebaa Farms, killing one soldier.

Hezbollah targets an IDF convoy in the Shebaa Farms with anti-tank missiles, killing one soldier and wounding three.

Hezbollah fires six mortars at an Israeli outpost near the Lebanese border, causing no casualties.

Hezbollah detonates an explosive charge against an IDF patrol in the Shebaa Farms, killing one soldier and wounding two.

Hezbollah kidnaps Elchanan Tannenbaum, an IDF reserves colonel and businessman, after one of its operatives lures him to Dubai with the promise of a cut from a lucrative drugdeal.

After the IDF’s withdrawal from south Lebanon, Hezbollah launches a cross-border raid, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing their bodies. The raid marks the beginning of the so-called “Shebaa Farms Conflict,” which lasts until July 12, 2006, when the Second Lebanon War begins.

Hezbollah’s military chief Imad Mughniyeh establishes a unit within Hezbollah – likely Unit 133 – to provide military, media and intellectual support to the Palestinian intifada, the day of Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount.

Israel withdraws from south Lebanon security zone, ending its 18-year occupation of Lebanese territory, and its South Lebanon Army proxy collapses. Hezbollah claims victory.

Hezbollah launches a large-scale attack on 30 SLA and IDF positions in the south Lebanon security zone, seizing the SLA’s 81^stMechanized Infantry Regiment’s al-Bayada outpost, and capturing one T-54 tank, one M113 APC, and a half-track vehicle. Hezbollah loses one fighter – Mohammad Badreddine – in the assault. This is Hezbollah’s last “special operation” before the security zone’s collapse on May 25, 2000.

Hezbollah assassinates Col. Aql Hashem – the SLA’s second-in-command and responsible for its daily operations – with a bomb outside his farm in the south Lebanon village of Debel.

Hezbollah conducts its fourteenth suicide bombing, on the road to Qlay’a. The group claims to have killed seven Israeli soldiers, while the IDF denies any casualties, saying the bomber had prematurely detonated his explosives.

Hezbollah infiltrates the South Lebanon Army’s outpost in Beit Yahoun and seizes an M113 APC.

Hezbollah assassinates IDF Brigadier General Erez Gerstein, commander of the IDF’s Lebanon Liaison Unit (Yakal) by detonating an IED near his motorcade. The attack kills three Israeli soldiers accompanying Gerstein. Gerstein is the highest-ranking Israeli officer to be killed in Lebanon to date.

Hezbollah holds its fifth conclave, amending its bylaws to re-elect Hassan Nasrallah as Secretary-General for the third time. Hashem Saffiedine is appointed as the head of the Executive Council.

Hezbollah officially expels Subhi al-Tufayli from its membership.

Hezbollah forms the multi-confessional “Lebanese Brigades to Resist the Israeli Occupation” – aka the Lebanese Resistance Brigades.

The United States Department of State designates Hezbollah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Hassan Nasrallah’s son, Hadi, is killed in armed confrontation with Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon’s Jabal al-Rafi area of Iqlim al-Tuffah.

Hezbollah lays an ambush for Israeli naval commandos who landed south of Sidon, between the towns of Loubieh and Ansariya – north of the IDF-controlled south Lebanon security zone. The soldiers are ambushed upon entering a booby-trapped orchard. Only five of the 16 Israeli soldiers deployed survive.

Hezbollah al-Hejaz detonates a truck bomb adjacent to Building #131, an eight-story structure housing members of the United States Air Force’s 4404^th Wing, in the Saudi city of Khobar. 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi are killed in the attack, and 498 others from different nationalities are wounded.

For 17 minutes, IDF artillery fires 38 shells – two-thirds of which were equipped with proximity fuse anti-personnel mechanisms detonating the bomb before impact – on a UN compound near the village of Qana, where 800 Lebanese had taken refuge. The strikes kill 106 Lebanese civilians and wound two Fijian UNIFIL peacekeepers. A subsequent UN investigation rejects Israel’s explanation that the shelling was erroneous, based on video evidence showing an Israeli drone overflying the compound and broadcasting in real-time before the shelling began. Israel first denies the drone was there, but later recants when video evidence is produced. It still rejects the UN’s findings.

Hezbollah launches Katyusha rockets into northern Israel on March 30 and April 9, 1996in response to the IDF’s accidental killing of three Lebanese civilians, including a 16 year-old boy. Israel launches Operation Grapes of Wrath in a failed attempt to end Hezbollah’s shelling. Israel’s strategy is similar to 1993: targeting civilian areas to create massive displacement and pressure the Lebanese government to restrain Hezbollah. The strategy fails again and, just as in 1993, Hezbollah maintains rocket fire into northern Israel until a ceasefire. Three Israeli soldiers are killed, 62 civilians are wounded, and 20,000-30,000 are displaced. The operation results in the death of 170 Lebanese civilians (including 108 taking refuge at a UN Compound), 350 wounded, and 350,000-500,000 displaced. Israel succeeds in killing only 14 Hezbollah fighters. At the end of the war, a new, written understanding is reached between Israel and Hezbollah, once again committing to refrain from targeting civilians.

Hezbollah carries out its 13^thsuicide bombing, killing two Israeli soldiers in ‘Adaisseh.

Hezbollah convenes its fourth conclave, establishing its Jihadi Council – its military decision-making body – and appointing Hashem Saffiedine (Nasrallah’s maternal cousin) as its head.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appoints Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, and Shura Council member Mohammad Yazbek, as his religious deputies in Lebanon.

Hezbollah carries out its twelfth suicide bombing, targeting an SLA outpost in Bint Jbeil, wounding eleven people.

Then-IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak tasks the Golani Brigade’s commander with forming the Egoz special-forces unit – an elite counterterrorism unit within the Golani Brigade whose express purpose was to combat Hezbollah.

Hezbollah fighters storm the IDF’s Pumpkin Outpost in the south Lebanon security zone. This was also the beginning of Hezbollah using its filmed footage of attacks on IDF positions in the media as propaganda and psychological warfare against the Israelis.

A Hezbollah suicide bomber strikes the AMIA Jewish Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, killing 86 people.

Three Hezbollah groups –the Martyr Ismail Hamzah Group, Martyr Jamal Shuheimi Group, and Martyr Hussein Kamal Younes Group – attack and seize the SLA’s Tallousa position, seizing abandoned equipment including T-55 tanks.

Lebanese Internal Security Forces and Armed Forces kill 13 Hezbollah supporters, and wound 40, who were protesting the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians.

The IDF launches its punitive Operation Accountability in response to Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel. The IDF’s strategy is to target Lebanese civilian infrastructure to displace refugees and pressure the Lebanese government to restrain Hezbollah. The strategy fails, and Hezbollah remains virtually unscathed. An oral agreement is eventually reached whereby fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah is restricted to the Security Zone – a strip of Israeli-occupied Lebanese territory intended to act as a buffer between Hezbollah in south Lebanon and northern Israel. Israel agrees to refrain from attacking civilian Lebanese targets, and, in exchange, Hezbollah refrains from firing rockets into northern Israel. One Israeli soldier and as many as 50 Hezbollah fighters die during the operation. 120 Lebanese civilians are killed, 500 are wounded and 300,000 are displaced. Two Israeli civilians are killed, and 24 are wounded. Hezbollah keeps firing rockets into northern Israel until the ceasefire goes into effect.

Hezbollah convenes its third conclave, reelecting Hassan Nasrallah as its Secretary-General and Naim Qassem as his deputy. Hajj Muhsin al-Shakar, Hezbollah’s “central military commander,” is elected to the Shura Council.

Hezbollah attempts to assassinate Jak Kamhi, the head of Turkey’s Jewish community.

Hezbollah carries out its eleventh suicide bombing, killing, and wounding 25 Israeli soldiers in the south Lebanon village of Jarmaq.

Hezbollah runs in Lebanon’s first parliamentary elections since 1972, winning 12 seats.

Hezbollah evacuates the Sheikh Abdullah Barracks in the Bekaa Valley, returning it to the LAF– after forcefully seizing it from the LAF nine years prior – and takes with it several pieces of military equipment, including several M113s that Hezbollah would display in its Qusayr military parade in 2016.

A Hezbollah car bomb demolishes the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people, including four Israeli embassy personnel.

Hezbollah assassinates Ehud Sadan, the security chief of the Israeli Embassy in Ankara. Two Turkish passersby were also killed.

Hezbollah’s Shura Council convenes and unanimously elects 32-yr-old Hassan Nasrallah as Secretary-General.

Israeli Apache helicopters interdict and fire missiles on Abbas al-Mousaoui’s motorcade, in Nabatiyeh. The strike killed al-Mousaoui, his wife, his five year-old son, and four others.

Hezbollah, under its own name, begins firing short-range Katyusha rockets into northern Israel to create what it calls a “balance of terror” with the IDF.

First prisoner-swap between Israel and Hezbollah occurs.

Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s official television station, is created.

Hezbollah holds its second conclave and decides to adopt a pragmatic policy of infitah (“opening up”). Infitah is a willingness to work within the current Lebanese system of government, while gradually working towards Hezbollah’s original goal of recreating Lebanon as an Islamic theocracy based on the Iranian model. Al-Tufayli, who wanted to maintain the party’s initial hardline stance of rejecting any recognition of the Lebanese state or even temporary cooperation with it is replaced with the pragmatic Abbas al-Mousaoui as Secretary-General, and Naim Qassem is appointed as al-Mousaoui’s deputy. During this conclave, Hezbollah’s Shura Council members are elected, rather than appointed.

Two Saudi diplomats and one telex operator at the Saudi embassy in Bangkok are killed, a Saudi businessman is also abducted, and his body is never recovered. Hezbollah is suspected to have carried out the attack.

Hezbollah convenes its first conclave, revealing the identity of its leaders and cadres. The conclave creates the post of Secretary-General, to which Sheikh Subhi al-Tufayli was appointed, and nominated a Shura (Consultative) Council.

The Taef Agreement is signed and ratified by Lebanon’s parliament, ending the country’s civil war and disarming all Lebanese militias, except Hezbollah. To advance its own interests, Syria – Lebanon’s new hegemon – allowed Hezbollah to retain its arms as an officially sanctioned resistance group in accordance with Taef’s stipulation that the Lebanese State “must take all necessary measures to liberate Lebanese territory.”

Hezbollah carries out its tenth suicide bombing, killing five Israeli soldiers in Marjayoun.

Hezbollah carries out its ninth suicide bombing, killing eight Israeli soldiers near the Fatima Gate on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Hezbollah carries out its eighth suicide bombing, against an Israeli convoy in Marjayoun, killing one soldier.

Hezbollah’s al-Nour radio station begins broadcasting.

The first major direct encounter between Israeli forces and Hezbollah occurs in the village of Maydoun, as part of an IDF operation into the Western Beqaa.

Hezbollah hijacks Kuwait Airlines Flight 422, to force Kuwait to release the members of the “Kuwait 17,” and executes two Kuwaitis, dumping their bodies on the tarmac.

Hezbollah and rival Lebanese Shiite party Amal – backed by Syria – clash as part of the so-called “War of the Camps.” Amal, backed by Damascus, launches the armed campaign against Hezbollah in response to Higgins’ kidnapping. The clashes finally end when Damascus and Tehran hammer out the so-called “Second Damascus Agreement,” in late 1990.

Hezbollah carries out its seventh suicide bombing, near the northern Israeli town of Metula, killing 12 IDF soldiers.

Hezbollah kidnaps U.S. Marine Colonel William Higgins while he is working as a U.N. peacekeeper in south Lebanon. Hezbollah would later execute Higgins in 1989.

The Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation, Hezbollah’s official think-tank, is established.

Hezbollah assassinates Captain Kazem Darwish, the LAF intelligence officer at the LAF’s Tyre Barracksand its liaison officer with UNIFIL.

The Syrian Army, backed by the Amal militia, destroys Hezbollah’s Fathallah Barracks in West Beirut’s neighborhood of Basta, and kills 23 of its members. Hezbollah attempts to assassinate Colonel Ghazi Kanaan, the head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, in response.

Hezbollah begins filming its attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah assassinates Col. Christian Goutierre, the French military attaché in Lebanon.

Hezbollah assassinates LAF Colonel Michel Ziyadeh, the LAF 1^st Regiment’s Chief-of-Staff, in Rayak.

Hezbollah assassinates Suheil Tawilah, a member of the Lebanese Communist Party’s Central Committee and Editor-in-Chief of both its “Al-Tariq” Magazine and “Al-Nidaa” newspaper, dumping his body in al-Museitbeh in Beirut. Tawilah would be the first of several Lebanese Communists and other Leftist intellectuals killed by Hezbollah over the next two years.

Hezbollah kidnaps two Israeli soldiers in Bint Jbeil, prompting a six day unsuccessful retaliatory raid by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to retrieve its servicemen.

Hezbollah carries out a bombing campaign in France for its support of Saddam Hussein against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. The attacks kill 13 French citizens and injured hundreds.

Hezbollah assassinates LAF’s First Lieutenant George Shamoun in Rayak.

Hezbollah operatives, including Imad Mughniyeh, hijack TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Beirut. Mughniyeh kills U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, shooting him dead and then dumping his body on the runway at Beirut airport.

Hezbollah assassinates LAF Colonel Sleiman Mathloum – the commander of the LAF’s Rayak Airbase, in the Bekaa Governorate.

A Hezbollah suicide bomber attacks a motorcade carrying Kuwaiti emir Jaber al-Sabah, killing his two bodyguards and a bystander.

Hezbollah establishes its Imam al-Mahdi Scouts, which acts as an educational and recruitment tool for the group among Shiite youth.

Hezbollah bombs a restaurant near U.S. forces base in Torrejon, Spain, killing 18 U.S. servicemen and injuring 83.

Hezbollah announces its existence by publishing its Open Letter, the group’s foundational ideological document, on the anniversary of the death of Sheikh Ragheb Harb.

Israel withdraws from most of Lebanon’s territory to a 1,100 square kilometer security zone in the country’s south – or 15% of Lebanese land – including 168 cities and villages. This was the beginning of the South Lebanon Conflict between Hezbollah, Israel, and Israel’s predominantly Maronite Christian proxy, the South Lebanon Army (SLA).

Hezbollah hijacked Kuwait Airlines Flight 221, executing two USAID officials and dumping their bodies onto the tarmac.

A Hezbollah suicide bomber drove a van laden with 3,000 pounds of explosives into the U.S. Embassy’s new location in East Beirut, killing 23 people – 21 Lebanese visitors and employees, and two American servicemen.

Hezbollah began a kidnapping campaign targeting Lebanon’s small Jewish community, abducting and murdering eleven of its leading members. The bodies of only four hostages were ever recovered, all bearing evidence of torture before their executions. None of those kidnapped had been involved in Lebanese politics or the Israeli-Arab conflict, and all were committed Lebanese citizens.

Al-‘Ahd, Hezbollah’s official mouthpiece, is first published.

Hezbollah kidnaps CIA’s Beirut station chief, William Buckley. Buckley died in captivity around June 3, 1985.

Three Lebanese collaborators with Israel assassinate Sheikh Ragheb Harb, a Hezbollah leader in the south Lebanon village of Jibchit, which was a hotbed of the group’s illicit activities.

Hezbollah abducts American Frank Regier, an engineering professor at AUB, and Christian Joubert, a French citizen.

Elements from proto-Hezbollah – including Mustafa Badreddine – carried out a 90-minute coordinated attack against several targets in Kuwait, intended to punish the country, as well as the U.S. and France, for their support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. Five people – two Palestinians, two Kuwaitis, and one Syrian – were killed.

A truck laden with 500 kilograms of explosives once again struck Israeli military headquarters in Tyre, killing 28 Israeli security personnel and 32 Lebanese prisoners.

Two explosives-laden trucks driven by Hezbollah operatives struck separate buildings housing the Multinational Force in Lebanon peacekeepers, killing 241 U.S. Marines, 58 French paratroopers, and 6 Lebanese civilians.

Hezbollah conducts its fourth suicide bombing operation, against a UNRWA building in Tyre, killing 29 Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah forcefully seizes the Sheikh Abdullah Barracks, in the Bekaa Valley, from the Lebanese Army, ostensibly in response to Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) General Ibrahim Tannous shelling south Beirut.

A Hezbollah suicide bomber drove a delivery van packed with 2000 pounds of explosives into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people: 32 Lebanese employees of the embassy, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passersby.

Hezbollah carries out its second suicide bombing operation, when one of its fighters detonated his car amidst an Israeli military convoy in south Lebanon’s Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, killing six soldiers and wounding four.

Hezbollah – using the moniker “the Islamic Resistance” – launches its first barrage of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel and carries out the first attempted kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. The soldier died of his wounds and Hezbollah left his body behind in Lebanon.

Hezbollah operative Ahmad al-Qasir drove an explosives-packed Peugeot into a multi-story building housing the Israeli military administration in Tyre. The attack leveled the building, and killed 75 Israeli security personnel and up to 14-27 Lebanese and Palestinian detainees.

Hezbollah kidnaps David Dodge, the acting president of American University of Beirut. Dodge, on July 21, 1983, was the first of dozens of foreign hostages kidnapped by Hezbollah – including Americans, Britons, French, Swiss, Russians and West Germans – during the Lebanese Civil War, with at least ten dying in captivity. Some were murdered, and others died of illnesses.

Hezbollah is founded out of preexisting Lebanese Shiite groups, but does not officially declare its existence.

Al-Jihad al-Islami – believed to be a pseudonym for Hezbollah – bombs the French embassy in Beirut, killing 12 and wounding 27. The attack occurred two weeks prior to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the date commonly believed to coincide with Hezbollah’s founding.