Hezbollah: A look at the Lebanese group as tensions rise at Israel’s border

Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel across the border over the past week in the deadliest escalation since a 2006 war.

Cross-border violence along Israel’s border with Lebanon has spiked since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, raising fears that a new front is developing in the conflict.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon, has been exchanging fire with Israeli soldiers across the border during the past week, the deadliest escalation since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israel has evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon and says it has killed four Hezbollah militants wearing explosive vests who were attempting to cross into Israel on Tuesday.

Hezbollah says it attacked five locations on Wednesday including an Israeli barracks in Zar’it and a position across the border from Lebanon’s Ras Naqoura area, using guided missiles in several of the strikes.

“The big fear right now, as we speak, is that Hezbollah is either going to intervene in sympathy with Hamas and what’s going on in Gaza or has been using the Palestinian issue, as many experts would argue, in order to advance its own interests and therefore the interests of Iran,” says Arne Kislenko, a professor specializing in security and intelligence studies at the Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Toronto.

“And this is where the situation could very sadly … escalate dramatically and drag Iran into an even larger conflict.”

Here’s a closer look at the Hezbollah group and its influence in Lebanon and relations with Hamas.

Hezbollah was founded as a Shiite militant group during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which was done in response to clashes between Israel and Palestinian Liberation Organization forces operating there and came one month after Shlomo Argov, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, was shot by Palestinian militants in London.