Israel-Lebanon News: Israeli attacks in Lebanon continue after killing of Hezbollah leader as Iran vows revenge

What is the connection between Hezbollah and Iran?published September 26th at 9:37 p.m. British Summer Time

21:37 BST September 26th

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

It’s close, extremely close, but that doesn’t mean they’re always pulling together.

Hezbollah – Arabic for “Party of God” – is a powerful Lebanese militant and political organization founded by Iran in 1982 as a proxy militia to carry the torch of Iran’s Islamic Revolution to the Arab world.

Hezbollah is accused of bombing Western targets in Beirut in 1983 and is proscribed as a terrorist organization by several governments, including Britain.

Iran and Hezbollah share the same vicious, anti-Western, anti-Israel ideology, the same religion – Shia Islam – and the same culture of martyrdom worship.

Without massive aid from Tehran, Hezbollah would not have been able to achieve its current status as the most powerful non-state army in the Middle East.

It is expected to be financially supported by annual support of between $700 million and $1 billion (£522 million to £746 million).

Hezbollah religious leaders visit Qom, Iran and Iranian mullahs visit Lebanon.

But it is in the flow of weapons that their strategic partnership is most critical. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) monitors a constant flow of advanced weapons – rockets, drones, mines and rockets – to its ally, much of it via Syria, whose government is also an Iranian partner.

The Israeli Air Force periodically bans these deliveries, but a large proportion of them still get through.