Middle East & Africa | Proxy fight

A change in Iran could reshape the Middle East

It could weaken militant groups across the region, or unleash conflict and a wave of refugees

TOPSHOT - Supporters of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement, taking part in a procession on the 13th of Muharram on the Islamic calendar, march past posters of (L to R) Hezbollah's slain military leader Imad Moghniyeh, current leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in Lebanon's southern city of Nabatiyeh on August 12, 2022. - The procession follows Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein, in the battle of Karbala in Iraq. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)
|DUBAI

IN 1985 a still young Lebanese group called Hizbullah set out its manifesto. The “Party of God”, as its name means in Arabic, promised to fight Israel and the West and urged its countrymen to establish an Islamic state. Many Lebanese thought it would be a passing fad. Almost 40 years later it is the country’s strongest militia, better equipped than even the army. It is a key to Lebanon’s politics.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The battle of the proxies”

Will Iran’s women win?

From the October 29th 2022 edition

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