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11 on the only country in the modern middle east that was long dominated by christians today muslims are in the majority it's a society that has repeatedly been under threat. just as up there have always been tensions between the different religious communities and to nominations in various ethnic groups in lebanon. supposes and financed by ron the shiite hezbollah party of god has had a huge impact on the political fabric of levanon. as follows critics would say yes that this does destabilize the region hezbollah supporters would say that as well as military strength is an asset for lebanon because that keeps israel away. in the civil war in syria the hezbollah militia defended. it's sad regime now they're back and living

on in stronger shape than ever. the more the there are fighting to defend is the model of bashar assad which this is it's a she. bought just to what extent does hezbollah to term in the course of politics in lebanon. beirut the lebanese capital still bears the scars of a civil war that for more than 15 years crippled the city and the country as a whole see i'm sorry i was among those who fought back then he was just 16 years old when he 1st held the weapon in his hands.

the civil war erupted in 1975 like virtually the entire country beirut became a battlefield. the war initially saw christian militias fighting against the palestinian liberation organization and p.l.o. which was threatening to take control of beirut. all. the hostilities then escalated into a broader conflict between christians and arab nationalists finally the israelis invaded and occupied southern lebanon in order to expel the p.l.o. from the country it was in this time that hezbollah was formed. the war claimed tens of thousands of lives and left the country devastated. the bad thing theo's was supposed to do where.

but they don't speak about it. that's why every 1520 years something someplace with people. they know. how to destroy the buildings and they don't make us more house where they go they don't know anything about life except applied to. here in the middle of beirut in the no man's land between muslim and christian districts ziad sahaba and his former comrades in arms and meeting up in a cafe they want to break the silence surrounding events in the civil war there are lessons to be learned they say also including the conflicts with israel the last of which again shocked the country in 2006 ziad screw cults meetings where all participants can talk about their wartime experiences. with out your. kids. but if i don't feel bad

a friend of mine was driving his car when a shell exploded behind him if. he looked in his mirror and saw a woman collapse he drove back to help or it was then that a 2nd shell exploded and killed him she. just doesn't get it but that's just. a growing number of people are eager to talk about how it feels to be at the mercy of tanks and missiles. they lost so i reflect on their own deeds. but. they were how do you do use the guns to solve our problems is the biggest mistake of shooting and the main factor or why we. do this is us you know it was a civil war itself. actually it was us who believe that by violent we can change

the situation. what we did we destroy our cancer. among the biggest losers of the civil war were catholic christians the maronites in 1943 france had relinquished its mandate power over lebanon and the country became independent for years and decades afterwards the maronites held sway you never non muslims druse orthodox christians and all other religious minorities have to accept the political and economic supremacy of the maronite christians defeated in the civil war had far reaching consequences from various groups as middle east analyst daniel gal explains and even on board. lebanon was created in order to guarantee a christian majority it's an absolute exception in the history of the middle east a state was created with the help of the west and also with the help of the league of nations in which christians were in the majority and the word thus able to

determine political developments in the country and before the lebanese civil war the christians had a joint guarantee privileges including a majority in parliament after the war and through the agreements that were signed in its wake this change and not today the christians no longer have those privileges now. after the civil war the cards will reshuffled the former warring parties agree to a strict system of proportional representation that at the same time took into account the needs and interests of the muslim population each religious minority was granted posts and privileges that they have defended right through to the present as a result however this multicultural society has been gradually disintegrating into its separate parts. over a 1000000 predominantly muslim refugees from syria a further upset. team social balance politically and economically lebanon is in a deep crisis that is further divide in the country.

a division that manifested in the road blocks which are found not only throughout irish but also the entire country some of them date back to the civil war and the syrian occupation which lasted until 2005. the headquarters of the qatari apache resembles a fortress. the party of the maronite christians formerly known as the fair lounge is led by sami gemayel a cylon of one of lebanon's most predominant political dynasties his uncle and brother were both assassinated nevertheless gemayel believes in lebanese democracy . we have a history of 80 years of democracy the only maybe country in the region where you have ex-president living in peace in their own country you have every 4 years in

the election you have. governments are being formed even if it takes time even if it's difficult to do it every time but at least you're doing it and it's a democracy process and this is a model that we. that you are willing to defend. but the political system in lebanon is now under greater threat than ever before the shiite hezbollah the party of god is growing in strength many of its supporters despise the lebanese state. and the last friday of the fasting month of ramadan has been less celebrates could see or to do some day which goes back to the time of the arraignment later ayatollah khomeini an event that centers on the dome of the rock injuries. it's going to calls itself the party of resistance resistance to its own

allegedly powerless state and resistance to israel. all i started resistance was proved successful by hezbollah not the state this resistance movement emerged the moment it became clear that the state was powerless to do anything oh well your state allowed us in the south of the country to be humiliated by the occupying israelis on a daily basis and the resistance movement consists of all of these people here. you know it's day isn't international day not just for us but for every country and with god's help in the near future we will put an end to israel's existence. as well as grassroots space is made up of many poor shiites who constitute roughly one quarter of the population in lebanon on the general secretary of hezbollah. is their idol. for decades he's been the head of the party and

the armed militia it's been years since nasrallah has appeared in public to to the risk of assassination the list of enemies is long israel regards him as a primary terrorist target this evening his supporters only get to see him on a big screen he said to a video message from a hiding place in the mountains. we have precision missiles capable of hitting all the central targets in the zionist entity. today on this 40th anniversary of jerusalem day let me state once again and tell the whole world that we have persisted missiles in lebanon and in sufficient numbers to change the entire region once and for all. that carried. the fear i know what was i know we will follow him chant the

crowd the the. let me tell the world that if the americans continue with their current policy we will build a factory in lebanon for precision missiles. now israel has video appearances a closely monitored by governments in many other countries because hezbollah does not make empty threats it has a track record of carrying out attacks on the us france and in particular israel hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization by the us and israel the european union gives that designation only to its military wing. the.

over the years hezbollah has mounted numerous attacks on northern israel near the border with lebanon abducting soldiers targeting and killing civilians with missiles and using suicide bombers. israel is abroad have also been the victims of terrorist attacks attributed to hezbollah a bombing in bulgaria and 2012 claimed the lives of 5 israeli tourists and their bus driver. works of the institute for national security studies in tel aviv. definitely the most dangerous organisation but it's not only organisation isabella is a political party it's a social network it's a religious spot the any so also an army it's a very well equipped. army advanced army was sophisticated weaponry which were provided by the iranians and the syrians so we are not talking only about an

organization. hezbollah was formed in the 1980 s. in the bekaa plain on the border with syria today it also controls parts of beirut and the south of the country. during the civil war the hezbollah militia force against israel after the occupied the south of the country faced with a guerrilla war of attrition the israeli army eventually pulled out of lebanon in 2000 hezbollah claimed victory. nicholas blanford is a british journalist at the time he was writing for lebanese daily newspaper is. to go back to the lines in line to use. then israel was occupying

a strip of south lebanon and hezbollah was engaged in a daily resistance campaign fighting israel is back then there was a general consensus within lebanon to support hezbollah to support hezbollah as resistance activities including from those that view has followed with some distrust. and this alarmist organization with links to iran but the resistance of credentials helps hezbollah gain popularity across the country. many towns in southern lebanon on about 100 kilometers from beirut every year tens of thousands of people flocked to the opening museum here. is a kind of hezbollah pilgrimage site celebrating the fight against israel it was opened in 20. 10 on the 10th anniversary of israel's withdrawal from lebanon it boasts an array of hezbollah war trophies including captured tanks and artillery

guns. yet hezbollah was originally founded to defend the shiites against they've been dominant muslim rivals the sunni's iran provided help in the form of funding and expertise but then the israelis invaded and occupied the south of the country. who so far has worked as a tourist guide ever since the museum opened he says it's his wife offering resistance the museum to begin with just to cherish the memory of the martyrs that they gave their lives to for this country or from the invaders. nature used to be a refuge and banks for hezbollah fighters it was here that they dug themselves into the mountains and wage to guerrilla war which has been a tent into

a success story. the media and the world are controlled by the zionists in this so. why not teach the generation while the resistance all about. this is our war just to give these people our side of the story. has been his version of history is that israel occupied southern lebanon and that hezbollah pushed up and systems into the israelis withdrew in fact hezbollah also mounted repeated attacks on its ocho enemy after that time. on them. in 2006 hezbollah fired missiles at northern israel and in a cross border right abducted 2 israeli soldiers.

israel hit back launching a ground invasion and a series of air rights reaching as far as by route. more than 2000 people were killed most of them lebanese. the wall also cemented has been a status as being one of israel's principal enemies. israel is faced with and is challenge by an army that is using those guerrilla tactics that's why i call it an army of story. and it is very well trained very well equipped with my intentions any jeopardize the stability of the region and it may create a war between israel and lebanon on the state of lebanon on which has basically i-g. in the last couple of years israel has declared that hezbollah is the greatest threat

facing israel so we're not talking about a conflict about syria or even iran but our non-state organization such as has all or is not perceived as the greatest threat was from. united nations troops have been stationed in southern lebanon since $978.00 their mandate to guarantee peace and security in the contested region but it proved an impossible task for a un force that was fun much too small. in a pitiful state after the civil war and controlled by different religious groups the lebanese army existed in name only when 6 of its peacekeepers were killed in the war of 2006 the united nations changed its policy. since 2006 the un forces have had what is known as

a robust mandate which allows the use of force if necessary since then there have been only rare armed confrontations at the border both sides are upholding the cease fire agreement to this day however a state of war still exists between israel and lebanon there are no diplomatic relations between the 2 countries. and the most serious crisis since the last war erupted at the end of 28 saying un troops have the job of securing the blue line the demarcation line between the 2 countries the israeli army discovered tunnels lead. into israel evidently dark by hezbollah to render them unusable the israelis poured concrete into the tunnels watching events from the lebanese side of the blue line a number of young men with hizbollah flags the militia has continued to store weapons in the area despite

a bad imposed 3 un resolution. lebanon has never recognized the state of israel there is no mutually accepted border between israel and lebanon on the blueline serves as a temporary solution. on resolved issue is who the sheba farms belong to. they were an expired israel but lebanon mice climb to the exits to the hezbollah tunnels were discovered nima to land inside israel. television 150 kilometers south of the border with lebanon is israel's biggest city . and it now lies within the range of hezbollah missiles one of the factors behind the israel defense forces locating their center of operations deep underground beneath their headquarters.

is around slender size means that a short reaction time to attacks from outside is deemed vital to its survival its army closely monitors the activities of hezbollah its analyses show that hezbollah has grown in strength partly through the experience it has gained through the war in 93 in syria. the israelis see hezbollah in a wider strategic context in their eyes the shiite militia is 1st and foremost a proxy for the implementation of a rainy and plans. in the opinion of numerous observers iran is trying to establish a land bridge from its own territory to the mediterranean with the aim of projecting an extended zone of influence including hezbollah the regime into iran now has close allies reaching from iraq and syria through to lebanon.

we see iranian attempts to create a land corridor from iran through about a 1000 kilometers more or less from iran all the way to lebanon through iraq and syria when we look at events in syria we care less about if the dictator or lost by bashar al assad regains control over the country are not what we're interested in is whether the iranians will be able to make this into yet another iranian. outpost military outpost against israel and we have said very clearly that we have no intentions to allow the iranians to do so. in recent years the israelis have launched hundreds of attacks on suspected to rein in targets in syria supplies destined for hezbollah have also been bombed in

a war that has yet to be declared. it's a shura or day of remembrance in by route on this one of the most sacred sites on the shiite calendar the veterans of the hezbollah militia are honored. this man is said to survive an unsuccessful attack on the israelis he says he would fight again. even in his state he claims it has below are planning an attack on television for his revenge for his friend bombs dropped on by rage he would not hesitate to follow the. call. one of the many of these men fought in syria. together with the iranian forces they have helped to keep syrian dictator bashar al assad and his regime in power it's estimated that in the process hezbollah lost more than 1500 combatants.

as well as power center is located in south beirut the die here as the suburbs are 9 has a mainly shiite population here the self-styled party of god has established what it calls a march a cemetery. this is the last resting place of men who lost their lives in the wars against israel or in syria they include the son of hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah. many relatives pay regular visits to the cemetery which lies close to downtown beirut. having a fallen soldier a so-called mafia in the family is seen as a distinction. and the headline and yes i have

family here 2 brothers and an uncle 3 martyrs the the market every mother even if she doesn't have any marjorie's must give her children encouragement and educate them to this and that is why as you know because we are fighting for our land and our honor and god willing we will set ourselves free because we refuse to live without dignity and it is a matter of either dignity and our martyrdom. yell cut on the. hezbollah encourages the veneration of those the coals matias from an early age members of the mahdi scouts organization are prepared for war when they are just 8 years old they wear headbands bearing the words actual service over hussein who signed the bin ali is the 2nd most important mom revered by shiites the mahdi scouts are intended to fight against the enemies of the hezbollah in his name this

song mourns the passing of hussein who is considered a moderate up he's a role model for the mahdi scouts. worry about the guy. i had the house was out of the war and the families of those who have died in combat for hezbollah a given financial and material support has been also run schools and hospitals and has become an important social institution in lebanon but how is the organization financed with iranians voice being the main bankroller of hezbollah but hezbollah years ago diversified its portfolio and they have all kinds of revenue streams coming directly into the organization so a lot of it is true. donations from wealthy shia businessman who support hezbollah respect as follow the same applies on a smaller scale too has followers for bass but they also have a whole array of business networks around the world some of them are just not

images much but they all provide farms you know coming to to hezbollah's coffers. hezbollah continues to grow in power and influence and is shifting the denominational power structure in favor of the shiites the sunni's who are largely better off economically feel losing political influence even though it's traditionally a sunni who holds the most important things in the country back of prime minister. saad hariri who resigned in october 29th team had hoped to cut the power of hezbollah like his father refuge hariri seen with him here on the poster he had tried to unite the lebanese under sunni leadership to this end he was prepared to make concessions to hezbollah. the billionaire building contractor with lebanese saudi and french citizenship wanted

to up hold the legacy of his father. himself a former prime minister and assassinated in 2015. most of that in the very was a beacon of hope so not only for lebanon and its national agenda he was also a figure with whom the sunni's identified the man who brought the cosmopolitan sunni elites back to the country. and who also had given greater emphasis to the sunni identity of lebanon and for the. saudi arabia self-appointed protector of the sunni's takes a critical view of attempts at reproach meant with the shiites feel he is the saudis and other side hariri. exert more pressure on hezbollah if not only because of its closeness to iran the saudis likewise have their own strategic interests. in force the saudis were always eager to have

a foot in the door to wield power in the been on this and they've achieved this in diverse ways your investments your property and government bonds that they purchased the schools of. the saudis big problem was that hariri placed so much faith and had not managed to suppress the interests of other powers to the benefit of saudi arabia person sorry was my bill and unwilling to take power away from hezbollah while on a state visit to the saudi capital riyadh in november 2017 he surprisingly announced his resignation with a statement that completely contradicted his previous political line. and money out of the. us not going down because i cannot accept disappointing the lebanese people over the last few years and decades hezbollah with its arsenal has repeatedly presented us with a fait accompli. barca's. that

is sad or not. it claims that these weapons are for offering resister the. more but in fact they are being used against our brothers in syria yemen and even against lebanon last i looked. to this day it's unclear whether hariri was forced to step down it was only when french president eman moment craw intervened that he was allowed to leave saudi arabia. back in lebanon hariri rescinded his resignation political machinations that boost hezbollah's position a few months later the group registered and in fact electoral victory in a government headed by hariri they were represented. with 2 cabinet posts for the 1st time. look at the earth today is the only opposition party in lebanon really refused to be part of the deal that

managed to get hezbollah to control the country. and today we are fighting alongside with a lot of independent personalities and some groups from the civil society in order to form a larger position to the to the way lebanon is being governed today. has followed representatives really grant interviews to western media. as a recourse that means talking to their allies like you're seen yet they're a shiite and longstanding member of parliament. he sees hezbollah as indispensable . as well as the woman is a seen by many people as a party that helped defeat boxes that helped liberate the lebanese territories and with all the threats continuously for the israelis that they're well above

liberal a little bit there could be a at least the balancing power. in the mid 990 s. held a ministerial post he currently heads the parliamentary committee on foreign policy he puts up resistance whenever the united states or international organizations like the world bank seen here meeting up here trying to exert pressure on the lebanese government because of hezbollah. washington has once again demanded that the government to prod has a lot of power. something you have been finds completely unrealistic. to date. this below is represented in parliament we have. colleagues from school and the same building there was other than in government and they have a. presentation i mean the represent the chunk of people in the country so as

lebanese i mean all the lebanese. factions have stated i mean. raising this issue in a negative way or asking us to put pressure here over who will lead to confrontation to a conflict within the country which is a difficult position for lebanon to go into law. when it's facing so much challenges that will destroy the country completely. hezbollah is almost so far too strong militarily to be driven out of lebanon on the militia is said to number $25000.00 soldiers the party of god originally founded to represent the interests of the shiites in lebanon is now an established power factor throughout the middle east. as well as fighting syria as well as fighting iraq as well as fighting in yemen as

well as i think. it is involved in all the countries in the region and is dragging the ban on 2 problems lebannon didn't choose. it has been might have suffered serious losses with many of its fighters being killed in syria but it is now in a position to engage and take maneuvers. the war in syria has enabled it to develop far beyond the military capacity it had in the wars against israel and. hezbollah is now a powerful army and not just a militia. if the army national army leads. the israeli army is already preparing for a new war with hezbollah. this is footage of a maneuver conducted in the north of the country has been a reportedly has more than 120000 missiles at his disposal all of them potentially pointed at israel. i think it's safe to say that lebanon will probably be turned

into a car park in the next war but israel will be hits like they haven't been hit since 148 the missiles and weaponry at the disposal of hezbollah now will bring the entire country of israel to. a standstill. there will be no civilian traffic you know civilian maritime traffic people will all be in the bunkers there'll be no one going to schools universities work for the duration of the conflict so this is a very sobering picture for any prime minister in israel as it is indeed for hezbollah we know what hizbullah is planning we know that they have precise weaponry that can hit with carried out a lot of explosives that are going to devastate our cities and to kill people in high numbers there retaliation must be and i'm telling it from the even dovish point of view must be to stop with in any cause. so far the principle of

determined has worked on both sides. no one wants a new conflict memories of the civil war still vivid. now the lebanese too are realizing how dangerous has been this political course could be for the entire country even though up to now they have accepted the organization as energy. i'm a defender against israel. laurie high tyrion is a popular blogger and activist she criticizes hezbollah's policy of sending its militia into conflicts elsewhere in the middle east she believes it increases the chances of war breaking out. you have as well though does the lebanese as well know woods defense going on. this is reality and this is in. the same time

there is hezbollah which is the regional player and this is where the division comes. the fact that hezbollah has become a state within a state is perhaps only part of a wider problem faced by lebannon that of politics being defined by religion. laurie high tyin organizes meetings for women who want to bridge the gods between the denominations. here christians and muslims are sitting at the same table. only in this way she says can the country progress in the office or apart from one or 2 politicians the lebanese people have no voice in parliament with the microphone in front of them of course everyone speaks in the name of the lebanese people but in reality no one represents us as politicians are only concerned with defending the entrance of their particular religious denomination.

harass a lot of forms if you saw a love hate that would well it has to be possible for people to live in this country with their own convictions and there are prospects for changing things but this can only happen if we challenge the political and sectarian regime we need a secular state which also respects the interests of civil society. living on has experienced much violence and enjoyed many conflicts this could almost prove to be a strength but there also needs to be a radical break with the past. tripoli the 2nd biggest city in lebanon is proof that the religious divisions and conflicts do not necessarily have to persist. up until a few years ago crossing syria's street meant taking your life into your own hands because fighting between rival muslim factions was

a daily occurrence and the people shooting at each other were neighbors. sunni's and alawite who used to belong to the same shia branch of islam especially sad used to be adversaries. from among the many. now they are working together to repair their neighborhood and its power lines. these young men are under 30 years old. many of them were still minors when they took up arms of a reconciliation project called march has brought them together for. their good honestly i thought it was a terrorist. says some mia an alawite about the man next to him molasses about sunni used to have nothing but contempt for the other whites. and. i say

that our law has commanded me to attack anyone who attacks me. even if he is my brother. because the qur'an says that if anyone sins against you so you must sin against them. but that doesn't apply to him. he's ok like all the other white guys from this district they're really fine lads really good hearted and polite to them and they will there's talk about the much reconciliation project was launched by leah baroudi from beirut she's. vince that the religious conflicts are only a facade. i honestly believe that the sectarian divides in our minds are here out of fear and simply out of fear because we are afraid that the other is going is out to get us or out to eliminate us. and my ideas is is the solution is we need to talk to each

other we need to spend time with each other and get to know each other so that this fear that comes from you know manipulation from the past from what you've been through you know get get this always because we know each other the problem is that we do not know each other and are afraid of each other. up. skepticism is understandable what works in tripoli might not have the same positive effect in the rest of the country hezbollah has fought hard to secure a position in which it is a decisive political economic and military factor. and as long as religious goals persist with the between christians sunni's or shiites they will continue to determine the political and economic structure of lebanon and the country will struggle to emerge from the ongoing crisis while fundamentalism become

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every 2 seconds the person is forced to flee their home. the consequences been disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises from around the world. fuck a thing we don't have time to think i didn't go to university to kill people but act that way i mean a handful of people feel for their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of followers who stay behind and say play up little my husband went to peru because of the crisis that if he hadn't gone there we would have died of hunger running out of them. displaced towards january 15th on.

this is to give you news live from berlin outrage of the united states continues a day after an american airstrike kills iran's top general and an iraqi militia leader thousands of mourners join a funeral procession in iraq as tensions in the region solo the region is bracing for the iran to fulfill its vows of revenge for the death of general customs.