Timeline
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A report in Reuters indicates that Lebanese officials allowed Hezbollah to scrutinize the Lebanon-Israel maritime border deal “line by line” before Beirut gave its final approval of the agreement. Hezbollah, according to the report “[gave] a crucial nod of acceptance,” allowing the deal to move forward, undercutting claims that the maritime border agreement harmed or undercut the group’s power or influence in Lebanon.

Report claims that a meeting between a Saudi delegation and Hezbollah, held in Lebanon, paved the way for a ceasefire in Yemen. At the meeting, Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem reportedly presented the Saudis with a list of demands as a condition for an immediate ceasefire. These reportedly included the removal of Yemen's President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, the lifting of the blockade of key port city Hodeidah and Sanaa airport, and an exchange of prisoners, not all of whom were Yemeni but some who were Shias imprisoned in Bahrain and other Gulf states. Three weeks later, most of this came to pass, although not all the prisoners on Qassem’s list were freed.

US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program issues a $10 million reward for information on Hezbollah financier Mohammad Jaafar Qasir. The announcement claims Qassir, “helps to oversee several front companies used to mask the IRGC-QF’s role in the sale of oil and other extractives, a crucial source of income for Hizballah, IRGC-QF, the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and other illicit actors. In addition, Qasir leads Hizballah’s Unit 108, which coordinates closely with the IRGC-QF to facilitate the transfer of weapons, technology, and other support from Syria to Lebanon.” Qassir had been previously designated by the US Treasury Department on May 15, 2018 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

IDF reveals that sayyed Reza Hashem Saffiedine, the son-in-law of former IRGC-QF commander General Qassem Soleimani and son of Executive Council Chairman Hashem Saffieddine, regularly smuggles weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. The IDF claimed that Saffieddine was using civilian flights between Iran and Damascus to smuggle the weapons, which were then presumably trucked overland into Lebanon or stored in the group’s warehouses in Syria.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights report claims Hezbollah has set up workshops to manufacture “weapons of all kinds” in the countryside of Homs, under the supervision of IRGC experts. The observatory stated that Hezbollah had established workshops for the manufacture of artillery and missile shells, mines and maintenance of drones “within the fortified arms and ammunition depots in the strategic Mahin area in the southeastern countryside of Homs.”

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain expel their Lebanese ambassador amid row over comments made by then-Lebanese Interior Minister Georges Kordahi, of the pro-Hezbollah Marada Party, in favor of the Houthis in Yemen. Kordahi made the statements prior to assuming his post. Saudi Arabia also cited Hezbollah’s dominance over Lebanon and Beirut’s inability or unwillingness to stem the tide of illicit drugs being exported from their country into the Kingdom as reasons for the diplomatic rupture. The UAE and Kuwait followed suit, while Qatar and Oman criticized Kordahi’s comments.

Reports emerge that Hezbollah has threatened to remove Judge Tarek al-Bitar, who was investigating the Beirut Port Blast. The group’s official Wafik al-Safa reportedly conveyed a message to the judge through a Lebanese reporter, insisting that she tell him that, “We will go along with you until the end of the legal road but if it doesn’t work we will remove you,” with Bitar himself saying that the message conveyed to him by Safa said “[Hezbollah] will remove you through legal means.”

Hezbollah fires rockets into the Israeli-held Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory the group claims belongs to Lebanon but which Israel claims it captured from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The incident was the first time the group had fired rockets at Israel since the 2006 war between the two adversaries, and was a response to an Israeli airstrike targeting Lebanon days earlier, the first of its kind since 2014. The rockets struck open areas and did not result in any casualties.

Israeli Kan TV releases a report claiming that Hezbollah has dug a tunnel network hundreds of kilometers long from Beirut to south Lebanon, ending 3 km from the border with Israel. According to the report, the purpose of the tunnels is defensive, and meant to allow the group to quickly and clandestinely transfer fighters to the south in the case of a war with Israel.

Israeli helicopters attack an alleged Hezbollah site on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in a rare daytime airstrike. Syrian news outlets said the Israeli helicopter struck a target near the town of Hader, an area known to be linked to Assad’s regime and its allies, namely Iran and Hezbollah. The strike seriously wounds a man identified as Taher Mahmoud, who had been pictured in military garb and with a rifle.

On March 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of State's Reward for Justice program offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the location or identification of Salim Jamil Ayyash, a senior operative in the assassination unit of the terrorist organization Lebanese Hizballah, or information leading to preventing him from engaging in an act of international terrorism against a U.S. person or U.S. property. Ayyash is a senior operative in Hizballah’s Unit 121, the group’s assassinations squad which receives its orders directly from Hizballah leader Hasan Nasrallah. Ayyash is known to have been involved in efforts to harm U.S. military personnel.

The Estonian government imposed sanctions and an entry ban on Hezbollah and its affiliates in response to its terrorist attacks. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu stated, "Hezbollah poses a considerable threat to international - and thereby Estonian - security. With this step Estonia stands by the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania as well as other countries who have concluded that Hezbollah uses terrorist means and constitutes a threat to the security of many states."

Shin Bet announces the arrest of Yasmin Jaber, an East Jerusalem resident, for spying for Hezbollah. The Shin Bet said that Yasmin Jaber was arrested last month under suspicion of attempting to recruit “Israeli and Palestinian civilians and residents to carry out terrorist activities in Israel.” The Shin Bet alleged that Jaber was recruited during an international “youth conference” in Lebanon in 2015 that Hezbollah exploited to locate and recruit Arab Israelis as agents.

The United States sanctions Hezbollah Executive Council official Sultan Khalifa Asad, and Lebanon-based companies Arch Consulting and Meamar Construction, for links to the group. Washington also accuses Hezbollah of storing caches of weapons and ammonium nitrate for use in explosives across Europe in recent years, with the alleged aim of preparing for future attacks ordered by Iran. France’s Foreign Ministry responded to the U.S. claims by saying there was no evidence to suggest Hezbollah’s armed wing was storing chemicals to make explosives in France.

A report reveals the New IRA, the largest of the Irish republican dissident groups, is forging alliances with Hezbollah, among other radical groups in the Middle East, which may be providing it with weapons and finances. Irish and British security services suspect that the New IRA’s links with Hezbollah may have led to the import of arms including mortars and assault rifles. Hezbollah and the New IRA opened communications around 2017. Members of the New IRA then traveled to Lebanon in 2018 to meet with Hezbollah representatives, where British security services suspect they procured the weapons. Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA, has been a long-time supporter of Iran, Hezbollah’s patron.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon finds Salim Ayyash, a member of Hezbollah, guilty of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, but exonerates two other members of the organization. The Tribunal also stated that they could not positively rule that either Hezbollah’s leadership or the Syrian regime had ordered the Ayyash-led cell to assassinate Hariri.

The Israeli army announced that it had foiled a Hezbollah infiltration attempt along its northern border with Israel. An Israeli force spotted the Hezbollah infiltrators and, on instructions from IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, drove them off back to Lebanon rather than kill or wound them to avoid the incident spiraling into a larger conflagration. Hezbollah accuses Israel of fabricating the border clash, claiming that its fighters hadn’t attempted an attack on Israeli forces that day at all.

Shin Bet announces thwarting an Iranian and Hezbollah-backed plot to launch high-profile attacks in Judea and Samaria via the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The Syrian army was reportedly involved in training the PFLP cell. The cell was plotting to conduct major attacks on Israeli targets and communities, including a plan to kidnap an IDF soldier to use as a bargaining chip for the release of Palestinian militants in Israeli prisons. The operation was headed by Assad Al-Amali, a Lebanese resident who worked to connect the cell with Iran and Hezbollah.

Police in Italy seize 14 tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills being shipped into the country from Syria. Police traced the drugs back to Latakia, Syria, an area under the control of the Assad government and known as a hub for Hezbollah smuggling. Investigators considered Hezbollah’s involvement in the Italian shipment to be likely.

Germany ends its distinction between Hezbollah’s military and political “wings” and bans the group in its entirety. Iran and Hezbollah condemn the move, and warn Berlin of the “consequences” of its action. Berlin changed its policy vis-a-vis Hezbollah after Israel’s Mossad spy agency, after a months-long operation to assess the group’s operations in Germany, informed local authorities of the existence of warehouses in the south of the country where the Beirut-based group kept materials used to make explosives.

An Israeli drone targets a Jeep Grand Cherokee carrying members of Hezbollah with two Hellfire missiles at 30-second intervals. The strike occurred near the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese frontier. Reports indicate the vehicle’s occupants survived the strike, but there were conflicting accounts of their identities. According to information which Al-Arabiya claims was provided to it “exclusively,” the occupants of the vehicle were Mustafa Mughniyeh, the younger son of Hezbollah’s fallen commander Imad Mughniyeh, and an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer Imad Karimi, from Iran’s Fars Province. However, Kuwaiti Al-Jarida identified Karimi as a Hezbollah commander based on “an informed source in Tehran.” Al-Jarida added that the two survived because the first missile missed its target, and they had escaped by the time the second missile struck. The Kuwaiti report made no mention of Mustafa Mughniyeh, though some social media users suggested that Mughniyeh and Karimi were the same person.

Israeli strike targets Hezbollah position and Syrian Arab Army airbase in city of Homs. The strike was apparently carried out from over Lebanese airspace, over Sidon. Shortly after, Israel apparently carried out another strike in the outskirts of Quneitra. In one of the strikes, one Syrian soldier was killed, and three were wounded. Other reports indicated that the Israeli strike destroyed a long-range missile factory, and resulted in the death of an Iranian general.

Mariam Taha Thompson, a Lebanese-American national – formerly residing in Rochester, Minnesota – working as a translator for the military in Iraq, is charged with providing Hezbollah with highly classified information, including the names of foreign informants and the details they provided to the United States. The investigation leading to Thompson’s arrest began on December 30, 2019, and showed that between that date and February 10, 2020, Thompson accessed dozens of HUMINT source files. A search of Thompson’s living quarters on February 19 led to the discovery of a handwritten note in Arabic concealed under her mattress, containing classified information from U.S. Department of Defense computer systems, identifying human assets by name, and warning a Department of Defense target who is affiliated with a designated foreign terrorist organization with ties to Hezbollah. Thompson transmitted the classified information in the handwritten note to a co-conspirator, in whom she had a romantic interest. The FBI’s investigation revealed that Thompson knew the co-conspirator was a foreign national whose relative worked for the Lebanese government and had apparent connections to Hezbollah.

U.S. Treasury Department sanctions Lebanon-based Nazem Said Ahmad for providing financial support to Hezbollah, stating that he was one of the group’s top donors and generated funds for it through his longstanding ties to the blood diamond trade. Treasury also sanctions Democratic Republic of Congo-based Saleh Assi for laundering money through Ahmad’s diamond businesses and providing financial support to Adham Tabaja, another top Hezbollah financier.

Federal prosecutors urge that Usama and Issam Hamade, two brothers charged with conspiring to export drone parts and technology from the U.S. to Hezbollah, remain in custody while they await trial. The two were arrested in February 2018 in South Africa before being extradited to the U.S.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designates Belgium-based Wael Bazzi for acting for or on behalf of his father and Hezbollah financier, Mohammad Bazzi. OFAC also designates Belgium-based Voltra Transcor Energy BVBA, Belgium-based OFFISCOOP NV, and United Kingdom-based BSQRD Limited for being owned or controlled by Wael Bazzi. Additionally, OFAC designates Lebanon-based Hassan Tabaja for acting for or on behalf of his brother and Hezbollah member and financier, Adham Tabaja. The companies and individuals acted as conduits for sanctions evasion schemes.

Two Israeli drones crash in the Hezbollah-dominated southern outskirts of Beirut. Hezbollah claims the two drones were rigged with explosives and were sent by Israel to carry out a kamikaze-style attack on targets belonging to the group in Beirut. Simultaneously, the IDF had conducted a series of airstrikes in Syrian territories targeting an IRGC-led cell planning to fly kamikaze-style drones carrying explosives into northern Israel. The Israeli strike killed two Hezbollah operatives, Hassan Youssef Zbeeb and Yasser Ahmad Daher. The group vows to respond with a “calculated strike” from Lebanon, within Israeli territory.

Lebanon’s parliament ratifies the international Arms Trade Treaty, a 2014 treaty seeking to regulate international trade in conventional arms and prevent their illicit trade, which angers Hezbollah lawmakers, who storm out of the parliamentary session in protest. One Hezbollah legislator, Ali Ammar, says the ratification “infringes on the weapons of the resistance.” Prime Minister Saad Hariri commented that the ratification of the treaty had nothing to do with Hezbollah.

The Moroccan foreign minister reveals more details on Hezbollah-Polisario connection. He claims the two groups met at a secret location in Algiers, known to Algerian intelligence, which was rented by an Algerian woman married to a Hezbollah member. This Hezbollah member was recruited as an agent to establish contacts, especially with the Polisario. The foreign minister adds that the Iranian embassy in Algiers – particularly its Cultural Attaché Amir al-Mousaoui – acted as the hub of this connection. He indicates that since March 2017, high-ranking Hezbollah leaders had been traveling to Tindouf, Algeria to meet with Polisario officials, oversee their training, and establish installations and facilities. The foreign minister says the specific Hezbollah officials responsible for contact with the Polisario were Hezbollah’s foreign relations official Haidar Subhi Hadid, its military advisor Ali Musa Dakdouk, and Hajj Abu Wael al-Zalzali, its military and logistical planning official.

Moroccan Foreign Ministry spokesman says Rabat had evidence that Hezbollah had armed and trained Polisario members in guerilla warfare tactics and tried to establish a commando unit within the Western Saharan group. He also said that Moroccan authorities had discovered that Hezbollah had transferred a shipment of weapons and explosives to the Polisario, including SA-9 and SA-11 missiles.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives comprehensive interview to Al-Mayadeen, in which he claims that the Obama administration and U.S. intelligence agencies attempted to communicate with Hezbollah indirectly, via what he called “mutual friends.” Nasrallah also alleges that in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, a Lebanese-American citizen handed him a letter from then-Vice President Dick Cheney offering to remove Hezbollah from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization List and $2 Billion, among other incentives, if the group would stop threatening Israel.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah calls for a third Palestinian Intifada in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. ISIS releases a video from captured cellphones entitled “God Will Distance Them From You [Fasayakfiyakuhumu Allah] 4” which depicts fallen Hezbollah fighters in Abu Kamal, videos of their battle, and their frustration during the fight.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives speech to commemorate the one-week anniversary of the death of the commander Ali Hadi al-Asheq (al-Hajj Abbas), detailing his long career with Hezbollah. Nasrallah claims ISIS has almost been completely eradicated but accuses the United States of protecting the terror group and prolonging its organizational life. He also addresses U.S. financial sanctions on Lebanon, and says Hezbollah supports the Lebanese government’s decision to isolate the Lebanese economy from these sanctions.

Hezbollah, Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces seize Marker Points 196-204 on the Jordanian-Syrian border. Meanwhile, Hezbollah Military Media claims Hezbollah, Syrian Army, and “Resistance Axis” forces completely wiped out the ISIS presence in Hama’s eastern countryside, after seizing its last strongholds in the area. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army repel an ISIS attack on their positions on the connecting road between the cities of Palmyra and al-Sukhna, in Homs’ eastern countryside.

Nasrallah gives speech in which he warns against domestic confrontations between Lebanon’s different factions, and that internal divisions pose a risk because the United States is “plotting” new regional wars. He also addresses the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, saying it is in their interest to return to their country. He also says that ISIS was now on the verge of destruction. Nasrallah additionally argues against Kurdish independence, saying it is not a matter of self-determination, but it is being imposed upon the Kurds as a part of a plot to divide the region.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis – deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces – addresses flowery letter to Hassan Nasrallah, saying both the PMF and Hezbollah are “one front in confronting the challenges [lit. revetments] of terrorism, excess, and Zionism,” and acknowledging both Nasrallah’s and Hezbollah’s primacy as the heads of the regional “resistance” movements. Separately, Hassan Nasrallah reveals that he traveled to Damascus and discussed evacuation of ISIS fighters from Lebanese-Syrian border area to Abu Kamal, on Syrian-Iraqi border, with Bashar al-Assad.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah issues statement addressing Iraqi anger over transfer of ISIS fighters from Western Qalamoun to Abu Kamal, downplaying their ability to strategically shift the course of the battle against the group in the area. He also notes that Hezbollah has been the “tip of the spear” in fighting ISIS in the eastern Syrian desert. He also states that, “Hezbollah entered in full force to the battlefronts alongside the Syrian army to confront the takfiri groups from the beginning of [the Syrian civil] war…”

Hezbollah brokers deal to evacuate ISIS fighters, families, and civilians from Syrian-Lebanese border to the border of Iraq, prompting political and military opposition from the United States. U.S. intervention includes air strikes, bombing the road ahead of the convoy to prevent it from reaching its destination of Abu Kamal, and sending humanitarian supplies to the convoy. As part of negotiated agreement with Hezbollah – subsequently accepted by the Assad regime –ISIS’ remaining 310 fighters entirely vacate Syria’s Western Qalamoun and are bused to Abu Kamal on the Syrian-Iraqi border. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army move into the vacated area and begin entrenching themselves in strategic positions in throughout the Western Qalamoun. Nasrallah gives victory speech.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives a speech on the ongoing operations against ISIS, saying his group takes credit for the battle “in both its Lebanese and Syrian dimensions,” appearing to take credit for the LAF’s operations against ISIS on the Lebanese-Syrian border. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army continue advances against ISIS, including the strategically important Ras al-Shahout crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border, south of Syria’s Western Qalamoun barrens.

Hezbollah announces onset of joint assault with SAF on ISIS in Syria-Lebanon border area; LAF denies coordination in the operation while fighting the group in Lebanon’s Ras Baalbek, Al-Qaa, and al-Fakeha. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the SAF launch “Operation If You Return, We Will Return,” making advances against ISIS in Syria’s Western Qalamoun, including seizing the strategically important Mount Mawsil. The territorial goal of the operation is to seize 310 square kilometers from ISIS.

Kuwaiti security officials arrest Mustafa Abdulnabi Ali Bader Khan, the 13th member of the Hezbollah-linked Abdali Cell. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives speech on 11th anniversary of the ceasefire of the July 2006 War with Israel, saying that the Israelis emptied the ammonia tanks in Haifa due to fear of Hezbollah’s rocket capabilities, and should now worry about their nuclear reactor in Dimona.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gives victory speech after battle of Arsal, in which he says the Lebanese government must “directly coordinate” the repatriation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon with the Assad regime – in essence, attempting to use the refugee issue to restore the political ties between Beirut and the regime in Damascus. Nasrallah also notes that the LAF is responsible for liberating Lebanese territory under ISIS control, but that Hezbollah will be available to provide assistance. He further announces that Hezbollah and the SAF will simultaneously open a front against ISIS in Syria, requiring coordination from the LAF. Nasrallah also denies any connection between Hezbollah and the Abdali Cell.

Ceasefire negotiated by Abbas Ibrahim among Hezbollah, the Syrian regime, and Nusra Front goes into effect at 06:00 AM local time. Hezbollah pressed its advantage in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, seizing territory from Nusra Front in the early dawn. The agreement allows Nusra fighters and their families to evacuate to Idlib and requires Nusra to return the bodies of 5 Hezbollah fighters.

Nasrallah gives speech on Arsal battle, claiming that negotiations with the Nusra Frontare ongoing, but that the group had turned down offers for a cease-fire, and “serious negotiations” had only begun the day before. He also says that Hezbollah will hand over entire area to Lebanese Army after expelling Nusra, if the LAF requests it. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security, had been in Damascus negotiating the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Syrian officials – including those that would handle the logistic aspects of the transfer of the Nusra militants to Idlib – prior to the speech. Reports indicate that an official from Hezbollah was also present in Syria at the same time as Ibrahim.

Hezbollah advances against Nusra Front in Lebanon’s Arsal, seizing territory from the group within Lebanon. Simultaneously, on the Syrian front, the Syrian Army and Hezbollah press against the Nusra Front in Fleita and the Western Qalamoun. Hezbollah, the Syrian regime, and the Nusra Front conduct ceasefire negotiations amidst the fighting through Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security.

Hezbollah launches battle in Arsal Barrens – which is partially Lebanese and partially Syrian –against Nusra Front and ISIS militants, along with the Syrian Army. The group begins its assault from within Lebanon on the Sunni militants with an artillery and rocket barrage on Nusra positions in Lebanon’s Dahr al-Hawa, Al-Qaznah, Wadi al-Kheil Heights, and Shaabat al-Nahleh in the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Arsal. Simultaneously, Hezbollah and Syrian Army detachments launch an attack on Sunni militant positions in Al-Dalil Heights, Talat al-Kura, and Talat al-Alam in the Syrian Western Qalamoun’s Fleita outskirts.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announces the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces from positions on the Syrian-Lebanese border and their handover to the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah’s forces were deployed into Syria to spearhead the campaign to reassert the Syrian regime’s control over its borders with Iraq and Jordan, as well as the cities of Deir Ezzor and Deraa.

Hezbollah holds a large military parade in Syria’s Al-Qusayr, flaunting U.S.-made M113 APCs, but also Russian-made T-55 tanks. Israel claims the Lebanese Army gave the U.S.-supplied APCs to Hezbollah, but U.S. investigations proved this claim to be false. It appears that the military equipment on display was taken from the SLA, civil war surplus, or forcibly seized from the LAF in the 1980s.

Kuwait arrests three members of a larger terrorist cell – known as the Abdali Cell [Khaliyat al-Abdali] –tied to Hezbollah, which was planning to carry out attacks in the country. The cell had stockpiled a large number of weapons and ammunition in their homes. Kuwaiti authorities would eventually discover that the cell was comprised of 25 Kuwaitis and one Iranian.

Hezbollah and the Syrian Army launch an operation to take the town of Zabadani, ending in a ceasefire with significant gains for the pro-regime forces. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army claim to have taken 85% of the city – the opposition said they only took 75% – and the next day rebel forces besiege the city.

Hezbollah kills two Israeli soldiers – Cpt. Yochai Kalangel and Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini – on the Lebanese-Israeli border, in retaliation for the strike that killed Jihad Mughniyeh. Israel responds with artillery fire against south Lebanon, accidentally killing a Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper. Hezbollah immediately sends calming messages to the Israelis via intermediaries saying it did not want escalation and the matter was closed. Nasrallah gives a speech two days later saying Hezbollah does not want a war with Israel but doesn’t fear it either.

Hassan Laqis, a senior Hezbollah commander, is gunned down in his home in the south Beirut suburb neighborhood of Hadath, in the group’s Dahiyeh stronghold. Laqis was Hezbollah’s master technician and logistics expert. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack, but Jerusalem denies responsibility. The attack comes one day after Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of responsibility for the attack outside Beirut’s Iranian Embassy.

Lebanese Army’s Major General Wissam al-Hassan, a Lebanese intelligence chief and key Lebanese Sunni leader aligned with March 14 and Hariri’s Mustaqbal bloc, is assassinated. Hezbollah denies accusations of being behind the attack and keeps a low profile as enraged Sunni gunmen take to the streets of Beirut after al-Hassan’s funeral. However, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem warns against international involvement in the investigation of Hassan’s murder, as an FBI team lands in Beirut to assist in the investigation. Sunni politicians call for the downfall of the Mikati government but, as Mustaqbal’s Nouhad Machnouk noted, “we mean Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah admits launching a drone over Israel, flying in from over the Mediterranean. The organization claims that the parts of the drone were made in Iran, but assembled in Lebanon, and had flown over “sensitive sites,” in Israel before being shot down by Israeli F-16s north of the Negev. Hassan Nasrallah denies Hezbollah’s involvement in fighting alongside Assad’s forces in the Syrian Civil War, saying the party has yet to decide on entering the battle. However, he claims that some Lebanese living near the Syrian-Lebanese border may have entered Syria in support of the regime, “to defend themselves,” and that while his party “has nothing to do with their decision, I cannot tell them not to go fight.”

Hezbollah commander Ali Hussein Naseef’s body is returned to Lebanon after he was killed with other group members fighting in Syria’s Qusair a day earlier. Naseef was a high-ranking member and founder of the Shiite group. A Lebanese security official notes that the bodies of several other Hezbollah fighters had been returned to Lebanon from Syria over the past few days. Hezbollah sources did not confirm where Naseef had been killed, only that he had died “while performing his jihadi duties,” a euphemism which has since been routinely applied to its fighters who have died in Syria. They also say Hezbollah was carrying out recruitment efforts in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley to send fighters to Syria.

American and Lebanese officials claim Hezbollah has ramped up its support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime, sending him military advisers to assist with the battle against opposition forces. Lebanese officials also claim that Hezbollah’s fighters were fighting and dying in the conflict to save Assad, citing the increasing number of Hezbollah graves being quietly dug, with the families of the “martyrs” being warned by the party not to discuss the circumstances of their sons’ deaths.

The United States Treasury Department sanctions Hezbollah for involvement in the Syrian Civil War and support of the Assad regime. This action added Hezbollah to a U.S. blacklist associated with an executive order signed by President Barack Obama in August of 2011, which targeted the government of Syria and its supporters.

Western intelligence assessments indicate Hezbollah is exploiting the Syrian Civil War to obtain advanced weapons, including long-range rockets and Russian-made air-defense systems. The IDF begins working under the assumption that Hezbollah has obtained long-range surface-to-air missile systems from Syria, like SA-8s, with a range of 30 kilometers. That same day, Samir Geagea, the head of the Lebanese Forces party, calls on Hezbollah to accept a “historic deal” and disarm, as Assad’s regime is doomed to fail.

Hezbollah reveals the names of what it alleges were members of a CIA spy-ring operating in Lebanon. The disclosure comes after Hezbollah claims that it managed to partially unravel the Agency’s spy network in Lebanon by running a double agent against the CIA, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Nasrallah had bragged earlier in June that his group had identified at least two CIA spies, and called the U.S. Embassy in Beirut a “den of spies.” Meanwhile, in Alexandria, VA, Ayman Joumaa is indicted on charges of drug and money laundering on behalf of Hezbollah, and The New York Times publishes a report pointing to the “direct involvement of high-level Hezbollah officials in the South American cocaine trade.”

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah makes his first public appearance since the 2006 war, to give a live address to his supporters on Ashoura. His public appearance lasts only a few minutes, after which he gives a televised speech. During the speech, he says the group will never give up its arms, boasting Hezbollah has “tens of thousands of trained fighters, all ready to die,” to protect its arms. Though he says he supports reform in Syria, he lashes out at the Syrian opposition for warning that a new Syrian government would cut its special relationship with Iran and Hezbollah.

Leaked Israeli diplomatic cables reveal that Jerusalem expects the next war with Hezbollah to be “much more painful.” According to the Israeli assessment, the war with Hezbollah will last two months, and Jerusalem expects the group to launch 24,000-36,000 rockets at Israel – 6,000 of them at Tel Aviv alone – at a rate of 100 missiles per day.

During a tour of the northern border, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatens that the IDF may have to reenter Lebanon to remind Hezbollah of “the heavy beating they suffered from us in 2006.” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatens in a speech on the “Anniversary of the Martyred Leaders,” that Hezbollah will invade and “liberate” Israel’s Galilee in the next war.

Hezbollah nominee Najib Mikati is named as Lebanon’s new prime minister-designate and is tasked with forming a government after the Shiite group and its allies collapsed the national unity government of Saad Hariri 13 days earlier. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Hezbollah’s domination of the new government would affect bilateral U.S.-Lebanon ties. Throughout Lebanon, thousands rally against Mikati accepting the premiership, saying his appointment threatens the equities of Lebanese Sunnis.

Hezbollah and Israel complete prisoner swap. Hezbollah returns the bodies of servicemen Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser – who’s kidnapping touched off the Second Lebanon War – in exchange for convicted murderer Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah fighters captured by Israeli troops during the Second Lebanon War, and the bodies of hundreds of Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab fighters who had died fighting Israeli forces.

The 2008 conflict in Lebanon begins. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government moves to shut down Hezbollah’s telecommunications network and dismiss Wafiq Shqeir, the pro-Hezbollah security chief at Beirut International Airport, who was accused of installing cameras for the group on airport lane number 17 to allow it to monitor travelers. The next day, armed pro-Hezbollah demonstrators move to take over West Beirut. Nasrallah appears on TV calling the government’s decision to move against Hezbollah a “declaration of war,” leading to the outbreak of clashes between Hezbollah “black shirts” and gunmen loyal to Saad Hariri’s Future Movement. Hezbollah roundly defeats them, seizing large swathes of the city, before handing those areas over to the LAF. The fighting ended when the LAF pledged to allow Hezbollah to maintain is telecoms network and reinstall the airport security chief.

In a speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah calls for a general strike, which cripples Lebanon. The strike escalates into civil unrest and violence, including use of snipers, automatic weapons, and destruction of property, reminiscent of the Lebanese Civil War. Nasrallah, in an unprecedented move, calls on his supporters and all Lebanese to immediately vacate the streets and restore calm.

The Second Lebanon War begins after Hezbollah launches a cross-border raid into northern Israel, killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two – Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – to exchange them for the release of Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese Druze serving a life-sentence in Israeli prison for the 1979 murder of Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter, Einat. The 34 day war ends in a stalemate. 121 Israeli soldiers and 44 civilians are killed by Hezbollah. 43 Lebanese security personnel and almost 1,200 Lebanese civilians die as a result of Israeli operations. As many as 800 Hezbollah fighters are killed by the IDF during the operation.

The LAF fires on Hezbollah demonstrators throwing rocks at them, killing five and wounding several others, prompting riots throughout Hezbollah’s south Beirut Dahiyeh stronghold. Nasrallah accuses the U.S. Embassy in Beirut of prompting the violence. Nasrallah then meets with Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, prompting a governmental condemnation of the shootings by Lebanese security forces.

Israel and Hezbollah exchange prisoners. Hezbollah returns Elchanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers. Israel releases hundreds of Arab and Lebanese prisoners, including Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, the Imam of the south Lebanon village of Jibchit who was regarded as the ‘spiritual leader’ of the Islamic Amal faction of proto-Hezbollah, and Mustafa Dirani, a former high-ranking Amal Movement official who established the “Believing Resistance” faction after being expelled by Amal and establishing contact with Iranian officials.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah makes his infamous speech saying that the Jews gathering in Israel spared the group going after them worldwide. During that speech, he also noted that the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq would spell the end of America’s regional hegemony.

Two fighters infiltrate Israel from Lebanon and open fire on Israeli civilian vehicles traveling on the Shlomi-Matzuva road. Six Israelis are killed, and one is injured. Israeli intelligence believes Hezbollah was responsible, but the group does not claim the attack at the time. Years later, Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility, but Hezbollah-affiliated media outlets say Hezbollah aided them in their mission.

Hezbollah launches a large-scale attack on 30 SLA and IDF positions in the south Lebanon security zone, seizing the SLA’s 81stMechanized Infantry Regiment’s al-Bayada outpost, and capturing one T-54 tank, one M113 APC, and a half-track vehicle. Hezbollah loses one fighter – Mohammad Badreddine – in the assault. This is Hezbollah’s last “special operation” before the security zone’s collapse on May 25, 2000.

Hezbollah al-Hejaz detonates a truck bomb adjacent to Building #131, an eight-story structure housing members of the United States Air Force’s 4404th Wing, in the Saudi city of Khobar. 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi are killed in the attack, and 498 others from different nationalities are wounded.

For 17 minutes, IDF artillery fires 38 shells – two-thirds of which were equipped with proximity fuse anti-personnel mechanisms detonating the bomb before impact – on a UN compound near the village of Qana, where 800 Lebanese had taken refuge. The strikes kill 106 Lebanese civilians and wound two Fijian UNIFIL peacekeepers. A subsequent UN investigation rejects Israel’s explanation that the shelling was erroneous, based on video evidence showing an Israeli drone overflying the compound and broadcasting in real-time before the shelling began. Israel first denies the drone was there, but later recants when video evidence is produced. It still rejects the UN’s findings.

Hezbollah launches Katyusha rockets into northern Israel on March 30 and April 9, 1996in response to the IDF’s accidental killing of three Lebanese civilians, including a 16 year-old boy. Israel launches Operation Grapes of Wrath in a failed attempt to end Hezbollah’s shelling. Israel’s strategy is similar to 1993: targeting civilian areas to create massive displacement and pressure the Lebanese government to restrain Hezbollah. The strategy fails again and, just as in 1993, Hezbollah maintains rocket fire into northern Israel until a ceasefire. Three Israeli soldiers are killed, 62 civilians are wounded, and 20,000-30,000 are displaced. The operation results in the death of 170 Lebanese civilians (including 108 taking refuge at a UN Compound), 350 wounded, and 350,000-500,000 displaced. Israel succeeds in killing only 14 Hezbollah fighters. At the end of the war, a new, written understanding is reached between Israel and Hezbollah, once again committing to refrain from targeting civilians.

The IDF launches its punitive Operation Accountability in response to Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel. The IDF’s strategy is to target Lebanese civilian infrastructure to displace refugees and pressure the Lebanese government to restrain Hezbollah. The strategy fails, and Hezbollah remains virtually unscathed. An oral agreement is eventually reached whereby fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah is restricted to the Security Zone – a strip of Israeli-occupied Lebanese territory intended to act as a buffer between Hezbollah in south Lebanon and northern Israel. Israel agrees to refrain from attacking civilian Lebanese targets, and, in exchange, Hezbollah refrains from firing rockets into northern Israel. One Israeli soldier and as many as 50 Hezbollah fighters die during the operation. 120 Lebanese civilians are killed, 500 are wounded and 300,000 are displaced. Two Israeli civilians are killed, and 24 are wounded. Hezbollah keeps firing rockets into northern Israel until the ceasefire goes into effect.

Hezbollah evacuates the Sheikh Abdullah Barracks in the Bekaa Valley, returning it to the LAF– after forcefully seizing it from the LAF nine years prior – and takes with it several pieces of military equipment, including several M113s that Hezbollah would display in its Qusayr military parade in 2016.

Hezbollah holds its second conclave and decides to adopt a pragmatic policy of infitah (“opening up”). Infitah is a willingness to work within the current Lebanese system of government, while gradually working towards Hezbollah’s original goal of recreating Lebanon as an Islamic theocracy based on the Iranian model. Al-Tufayli, who wanted to maintain the party’s initial hardline stance of rejecting any recognition of the Lebanese state or even temporary cooperation with it is replaced with the pragmatic Abbas al-Mousaoui as Secretary-General, and Naim Qassem is appointed as al-Mousaoui’s deputy. During this conclave, Hezbollah’s Shura Council members are elected, rather than appointed.

Two Saudi diplomats and one telex operator at the Saudi embassy in Bangkok are killed, a Saudi businessman is also abducted, and his body is never recovered. Hezbollah is suspected to have carried out the attack.

The Taef Agreement is signed and ratified by Lebanon’s parliament, ending the country’s civil war and disarming all Lebanese militias, except Hezbollah. To advance its own interests, Syria – Lebanon’s new hegemon – allowed Hezbollah to retain its arms as an officially sanctioned resistance group in accordance with Taef’s stipulation that the Lebanese State “must take all necessary measures to liberate Lebanese territory.”

Hezbollah and rival Lebanese Shiite party Amal – backed by Syria – clash as part of the so-called “War of the Camps.” Amal, backed by Damascus, launches the armed campaign against Hezbollah in response to Higgins’ kidnapping. The clashes finally end when Damascus and Tehran hammer out the so-called “Second Damascus Agreement,” in late 1990.

Hezbollah assassinates Suheil Tawilah, a member of the Lebanese Communist Party’s Central Committee and Editor-in-Chief of both its “Al-Tariq” Magazine and “Al-Nidaa” newspaper, dumping his body in al-Museitbeh in Beirut. Tawilah would be the first of several Lebanese Communists and other Leftist intellectuals killed by Hezbollah over the next two years.

Israel withdraws from most of Lebanon’s territory to a 1,100 square kilometer security zone in the country’s south – or 15% of Lebanese land – including 168 cities and villages. This was the beginning of the South Lebanon Conflict between Hezbollah, Israel, and Israel’s predominantly Maronite Christian proxy, the South Lebanon Army (SLA).

Hezbollah began a kidnapping campaign targeting Lebanon’s small Jewish community, abducting and murdering eleven of its leading members. The bodies of only four hostages were ever recovered, all bearing evidence of torture before their executions. None of those kidnapped had been involved in Lebanese politics or the Israeli-Arab conflict, and all were committed Lebanese citizens.

Elements from proto-Hezbollah – including Mustafa Badreddine – carried out a 90-minute coordinated attack against several targets in Kuwait, intended to punish the country, as well as the U.S. and France, for their support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. Five people – two Palestinians, two Kuwaitis, and one Syrian – were killed.

Hezbollah – using the moniker “the Islamic Resistance” – launches its first barrage of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel and carries out the first attempted kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. The soldier died of his wounds and Hezbollah left his body behind in Lebanon.

Hezbollah kidnaps David Dodge, the acting president of American University of Beirut. Dodge, on July 21, 1983, was the first of dozens of foreign hostages kidnapped by Hezbollah – including Americans, Britons, French, Swiss, Russians and West Germans – during the Lebanese Civil War, with at least ten dying in captivity. Some were murdered, and others died of illnesses.