Hezbollahland
Mapping Dahiya and Lebanon's Shia Community- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2023
Summary
The southern Beirut suburb encompasses multiple layers of clashing and besieged identities that pose major internal challenges to Hezbollah’s hold over Lebanon.
The highway leading south from Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport skirts the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiya, allowing travelers to feel the group’s power and presence without seeing the surrounding community for what it is—multiple layers of clashing and besieged identities that pose major internal challenges to Hezbollah’s hold over Lebanon. For motorists, the highway barrier blocks any concept of the area’s polarized conditions, from the posh, shop-lined sections where senior Hezbollah officials live to the dark, impoverished warrens postered with fading images of “martyrs.” Drivers also miss the network of Iran-sponsored media channels, military depots, and religious institutions that flourish in the suburb—along with the secret prisons that fortify Hezbollah’s iron grip.
In this Policy Focus, richly illustrated with local maps, former Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar reveals the widening gaps between the country’s Shia community and its Hezbollah overlords, especially since mass protests shook the nation in October 2019. This analysis not only corrects past oversimplifications of Lebanese Shia, it also offers a path for policymakers seeking to undermine the militant group and give the fragile country hope for the future.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2023
- ISBN-Print
- 978-1-5381-8298-7
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-5381-8300-7
- Publisher
- Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 118
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- List of Illustrations No access
- Acknowledgments No access
- Preface No access
- Methodology and Objectives No access
- 1 Introduction No access Pages 1 - 4
- 2 Geographic Composition of Dahiya No access Pages 5 - 14
- 3 Historical Background No access Pages 15 - 28
- 4 Layers of the Lebanese Shia Community No access Pages 29 - 51
- 5 Challenges to the Three Pillars of Hezbollah’s Popular Support No access Pages 52 - 62
- 6 Hezbollah’s Eight Historical Stages and Relations with the Shia Community No access Pages 63 - 89
- 7 Hezbollah’s Shia Network Within State Institutions No access Pages 90 - 96
- 8 The October 2019 Protests No access Pages 97 - 107
- 9 Conclusion No access Pages 108 - 114
- 10 Index No access Pages 115 - 118





