Hezbollah : the global footprint of Lebanon's Party of God / Matthew Levitt

Introduction : Researching Hezbollah's Clandestine Activities -- The Party of God is Born -- Branching Out : Hezbollah Targets Westerners in Lebanon and Beyond -- Hezbollah's European Debut -- Bombings in Buenos Aires -- A Near Miss in Bangkok -- Beirut to the Blue Ridge : Hezbollah Comes to North America -- Bombing Khobar Towers -- Unit 1800 : Targeting the Israeli Heartland -- Finance and Logistics in Africa -- Unit 3800 : Hezbollah in Iraq -- Party of Fraud : Hezbollah's Criminal Enterprise in America -- Shadow War.

Hezbollah—Lebanon’s ‘Party of God’—is a multifaceted organisation: it is a powerful political party in Lebanon, a Shia religious and social movement, Lebanon’s largest militia, a close ally of Iran, and a terrorist organisation. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including recently declassified government documents, court records, and personal interviews with intelligence officials, Matthew Levitt examines Hezbollah’s beginnings, its first violent forays in Lebanon, and then its terrorist activities and criminal enterprises abroad in Europe, the Middle East, South America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and finally in North America. He also discusses Hezbollah’s unit dedicated to supporting Palestinian militant groups and the group’s involvement in training and supporting insurgents who fought US troops in post-Saddam Iraq. The book concludes with a look at Hezbollah’s integral and ongoing role in Iran’s ‘shadow war’ with Israel and the West, including plots targeting civilians around the world. Levitt shows convincingly that Hezbollah’s willingness to deploy violence at home and abroad, its global reach, and its proxy-patron relationship with the Iranian regime are all matters worthy of the utmost concern.