What are you on about? Hezb was reaching out to their opponents across the political spectrum and forming cross-religious alliances (with the largest Christian party) and open to working with the others. Nothing fascist nor exclusionary in their (Lebanese) politics at all.
I did not claim that Hezbollah is a fascist party. I said that
as a general rule, the fact that a party has grassroots support in a country doesn't automatically mean that banning it means "the end of democracy", and I've presented examples in different countries (Italy, Germany and Israel). I've also stated that I have no knowledge of Lebanese politics. Anyway, I was directly talking about the military aspect of Hezbollah. I have no opinion on Hezbollah as a political party.
And yes, they had no reason to exist pre-1982. They came into existence precisely because their country was invaded *unprovoked* by Israel in 1982 at the cost of 15k+ Lebanese civs killed.
The Israelis claimed Pal militants were attacking Israel from north of the border but nothing of the sort had occurred for a year and the border was essentially quiet.
If we're going back to 1982, why not go back a few years earlier. We can talk about the Coastal Road massacre (1978), an operation conducted by PLO coming from Lebanon into Israel killing 38 civilians including 13 children. You can also mention Samir Kuntar and his company that in 1979 who crossed the border and murdered 4 Israelis, including 2 children one of them by suffocation. You going back to
1982 just shows exactly the point - Hezbollah doesn't have a real present day reason for its military arm as Israel has left Lebanon according to international law in 2000. Hezbollah instigated the war in 2006, and they were the ones that started the conflict in 2023 which appears to be reaching its peak now.
There is no reason for Hezbollah's military existence or having an arsenal of 100+ thousand rockets after Israel left Lebanon in 2000. No real justification. Shebaa farms are a relatively small piece of land (25 km^2) that is a part of Syria. Even if they claim that Shebaa farms is contested territory, there's no justification for them to have a billion dollar budget military (supposedly the largest non-state military in the world). I will also remind you that Israel has held the area since
1967 and annexed it in
1981 (yes, against international law, and before the 1982 Lebanon War), yet Lebanon
never made any claim to it, nor did Hezbollah, until after Israel left Lebanon in 2000 - so it just took
33 years for someone in Lebanon to claim that it's actually
their land, which just so conveniently happened to justify Hezbollah's military existence.
What riled the Israelis were the PLO leadership under Arafat undertaking a diplomatic initiative to recognize Israel and entering discussions with the US to lay the groundwork for a potential peace settlement. That unfortunately for the Israelis would have to involve the return of the West Bank and Gaza, something they were never willing to do.
So the Israelis rolled their army up to the border and waited for weeks for militants to respond to several IDF provocations but non were forthcoming. It took the assassination of Israels ambassador to the UK (Shlomo Argov) by a radical Pal militant unconnected with the PLO to start off the invasion!
Yet the PLO was
not destroyed after the war, but exiled to Tunisia. Arafat himself
remained the head of the PLO after the war in 1982, and indeed in 1993 reached the Oslo I Accords. However, let's stay on topic. I understand why Hezbollah was created and I also get the animosity in Lebanon towards Israel. Hezbollah was created to end the IDF/SLA occupation of southern Lebanon, and it has ended in 2000. I know I am repeating myself, but I'll say this again - Hezbollah was at a crossroads - they could state that their mission is over and they're dissolving the military wing (or maybe integrating into the Lebanese Army) or they could make up a reason to justify their military existence. Hezbollah chose to make a new claim to justify its military existence. These kinds of organizations somehow always find some new reason to exist.