Hezbollah: A Regional Armed Non-State Actor

This thesis examines Hezbollah’s transition into a regional armed non-state actor (ANSA). Specifically, how did this transition happen? To unpack this puzzle, this thesis studies Hezbollah’s maneuvers in multiple theatres: Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, and focuses on its operations in Syria. The civil war in Syria, this thesis considers, and its spillovers across the region, was the conduit for Hezbollah’s transition. It argues that its engagement in Syria’s turmoil was a war of necessity. More importantly, three variables underpinned the transition: Hezbollah’s sectarian mobilization and instrumentalization of its sectarian identity, the shift of into a quasi-army mixing between classical and guerilla tactics and formations, and its embed as a partner in the axis that now extends from Beirut to Tehran, via Damascus and Baghdad. Hezbollah intervened in Syria to prevent the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and emerged triumphant on the regional scene. That said, the year 2018 provided a set of conditions, impossible to reproduce, that allowed Hezbollah to reach its apogee on both the domestic and regional theatres. In sum, the implication of this thesis to the field is straightforward: ANSAs are playing prominent roles in the regional order in the Middle East, and Hezbollah, for instance, has helped tilt the power balance during Syria’s civil war in favor of the regime and its main regional partner, Iran. Further, it added to the sectarianism debate arguing that Hezbollah instrumentalized its sectarian identity and adopted a sectarian mobilization policy for what was in fact a regional geopolitical contest.