1 00:00:02,280 --> 00:00:07,680 Imagine you live in a small country with more than a hundred thousand missiles pointed at it. 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:13,500 And imagine the leaders who control those weapons had one stated purpose: to destroy you 3 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:16,420 —to literally wipe your country off the map. 4 00:00:16,420 --> 00:00:17,940 What would do you? 5 00:00:17,940 --> 00:00:21,080 Strike first and try to destroy all the weapons? 6 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,800 Set up an anti-missile defense system? 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,100 Or would you ignore the problem and hope it goes away? 8 00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:31,811 You can now stop imagining, because these are real-life questions that one country in 9 00:00:31,820 --> 00:00:34,600 the world has to ask itself every day. 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:36,680 That country is Israel. 11 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,640 And the leaders who control these missiles (and the number I gave is a low-ball estimate) 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:47,280 belong to an organization known as Hezbollah—Arabic for “Party of God.” 13 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,220 Moreover, they’re not rogue terrorists. 14 00:00:50,220 --> 00:00:53,300 They actually run a country—Lebanon. 15 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:55,500 You should know something about them. 16 00:00:55,500 --> 00:01:01,320 Hezbollah first burst onto the international scene in 1983, when they simultaneously bombed 17 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,800 the United States Marine barracks and French paratrooper base in Beirut. 18 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:11,600 241 Americans—the largest loss of American military personnel in a single incident since 19 00:01:11,619 --> 00:01:16,530 World War II—and 58 Frenchmen were killed in the attacks. 20 00:01:16,530 --> 00:01:18,600 But this was only the beginning. 21 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:24,620 More bombings followed, killing 24 people at the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in 1984; 22 00:01:24,620 --> 00:01:30,500 killing 85 at the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994; and killing 19 at 23 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:36,080 a housing complex for American oil executives in Saudi Arabia in 1996. 24 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:43,220 In 1985, Hezbollah terrorists highjacked TWA Flight 847, during which they beat passengers, 25 00:01:43,220 --> 00:01:48,340 separated those with Jewish-sounding names, and murdered U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem. 26 00:01:48,340 --> 00:01:53,200 Hezbollah also supplied roadside bombs and helped organize groups who committed terror 27 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,640 attacks against American forces during the Iraq War. 28 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:01,480 They routinely assassinated political rivals, most notably the former prime minister of 29 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,520 Lebanon, Rafic Hariri in 2005. 30 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:10,700 They provoked numerous border clashes with Israel, which escalated into a war in 2006 31 00:02:10,700 --> 00:02:15,160 during which Hezbollah launched thousands of rockets at civilian targets. 32 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:21,300 Today, Hezbollah is a military force, a political party, a terrorist group and a transnational 33 00:02:21,300 --> 00:02:27,360 criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms smuggling. 34 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:32,200 But the most important thing to remember about Hezbollah is not Hezbollah; it’s Iran. 35 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:36,800 Hezbollah is an extension of Iran and it operates under its command. 36 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:38,400 Don’t take my word for it. 37 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,960 Take it from the man who has been running Hezbollah for the last twenty-five years and 38 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,800 is now the most powerful man in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah. 39 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,000 Here’s what he said in 2016: 40 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,220 “We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything 41 00:02:53,220 --> 00:02:58,960 it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, come from the Islamic Republic of Iran.” 42 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,180 That’s pretty much always been the case. 43 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:05,040 Indeed, Hezbollah is the demon child of the Iranian Revolution. 44 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:11,020 Its founders were Iranian revolutionaries who operated out of Lebanon in the 1970s. 45 00:03:11,020 --> 00:03:17,080 After overthrowing the Shah of Iran in 1979, they set up Hezbollah in Lebanon. 46 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:23,340 This is why in the early days, Hezbollah referred to itself as “the Islamic revolution in Lebanon.” 47 00:03:23,340 --> 00:03:25,940 That definition still fits. 48 00:03:25,940 --> 00:03:29,860 In the 1990s, Hezbollah added politics to its resume. 49 00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:34,160 This led many scholars to claim that the group had abandoned its terrorist past 50 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,180 and its subservience to Iran. 51 00:03:36,180 --> 00:03:37,400 If only. 52 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,590 In truth, throughout the decade, Hezbollah extended its murderous influence into Africa 53 00:03:42,590 --> 00:03:45,600 and Latin America, and even into North America. 54 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:51,000 Cocaine trafficking (they got very cozy with Colombian and Mexican drug cartels), 55 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:56,160 phony charity operations, and a wide variety of other criminal activities brought in more 56 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:00,780 cash with which to finance their political and terror operations. 57 00:04:00,780 --> 00:04:03,380 Today, Hezbollah dominates Lebanon. 58 00:04:03,380 --> 00:04:08,520 It directs the nation’s major domestic and foreign policy decisions, including war. 59 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:13,940 It has gained control of the Lebanese parliament as well as its military and security agencies. 60 00:04:13,940 --> 00:04:17,840 It has also effectively turned Lebanon into an Iranian missile base. 61 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:21,180 That’s where the more than 100,000 rockets come in. 62 00:04:21,180 --> 00:04:26,300 Iran is working to surround Israel with missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside the country, 63 00:04:26,300 --> 00:04:29,620 all while pressing ahead toward developing nuclear weapons. 64 00:04:29,620 --> 00:04:34,490 As Hezbollah and Iran entrench themselves in Syria, where they’re intent on activating 65 00:04:34,490 --> 00:04:39,380 a new front against Israel, the likelihood they will trigger another war—more devastating 66 00:04:39,380 --> 00:04:42,189 than the one in 2006—is growing. 67 00:04:42,189 --> 00:04:47,409 In addition, Iran has used Hezbollah to further its ambitions to become the dominant power 68 00:04:47,409 --> 00:04:48,819 in the region. 69 00:04:48,820 --> 00:04:53,360 Hezbollah operatives are deeply involved in the conflicts in Iraq and Yemen. 70 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:58,620 Since 9-11, the world has come to associate terrorist threats mainly with non-state actors 71 00:04:58,620 --> 00:05:01,060 like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. 72 00:05:01,060 --> 00:05:05,240 But unlike all these others, Hezbollah is a state enterprise. 73 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:10,120 As such, the threat Hezbollah poses to the West, to Arab countries, and to Israel’s 74 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,020 existence is different—and far more dangerous. 75 00:05:14,020 --> 00:05:15,840 How do we stop Hezbollah? 76 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:18,100 The key: Stop Iran. 77 00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:22,060 I’m Tony Badran, research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 78 00:05:22,100 --> 00:05:24,220 for Prager University.