Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah: Check out some of the Islamic groups in the Middle East
Hamas, FatahIslamic Jihad and Hezbollah are some of the main groups in the Middle East. Organizations act as terrorists or political parties.
Below you will find the main features of each of them.
The name Hamas is an Arabic acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement”. Deemed a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Israel, it was founded in 1987 during the first Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. It is an Islamic fundamentalist and nationalist group operating in Gaza. Hamas won the 2006 elections after defeating the rival Fatah group, which was pushed out of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
1 of 5 Hamas Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews Hamas Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews 2 of 5 Archive photo: masked fighter of the Izzedine alQassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, on August 18, 2023 Photo: Adel Hana/ AP file photo : Masked fighter from the Izzedine alQassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on August 18, 2023 Photo: Adel Hana/AP
Fatah means “Palestinian National Liberation Movement” and is a rival to Hamas. Founded in Kuwait in 1959 by members of the Palestinian diaspora, it is considered the largest Palestinian political party, but has a military branch. He is nationalist and secular and operates in the West Bank. It is the largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Key names that passed through the group include: Yasser Arafat It is Mahmoud Abbas.
An opponent of Hamas, he was expelled from Gaza shortly after the rival group’s victory in 2007.
3 of 5 Fatah Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews Fatah Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews
Terrorist group with ties to Hamas. To date, information has circulated that there were 30 hostages with them, out of the total number of victims captured in this terrorist operation. Jihad was founded in Egypt in the 1980s by university students from Gaza. The United States, the European Union and Israel also consider them a terrorist group. Over time, suicides and terrorist attacks were assumed and the existence of the Israeli state was not recognized. In last Saturday’s attack (7), he joined the Hamas campaign.
4 of 5 Islamic Jihad Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews Islamic Jihad Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews
The name Hezbollah means “Party of Allah”. The group, which operates as a political party in Lebanon, was founded in the 1980s during the Lebanese civil war. It is classified as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council. As an enemy of Israel, the group faced the country in the 2006 war. After the attacks last Saturday (7), she also supported Hamas.
5 of 5 Hezbollah Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews Hezbollah Photo: Reproduction/GloboNews
▶️ How did the conflict between Hamas and Israel begin? The latest dispute in the region began on October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. This was the most violent action on Israeli territory in the last 50 years. The country’s intelligence services could not have suspected that an offensive of this magnitude was being prepared.
▶️ What is Hamas? The armed extremist group is one of the main Islamic organizations in the Palestinian territories (there are two noncontiguous areas: the Gaza Strip and the West Bank). Since 2007, Hamas has controlled Gaza, which lies on a narrow strip of land on Israel’s west coast. The group is considered terrorist by countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, but is supported by Iran.
▶️ How was the attack? The actions were concentrated near the Gaza border, from where Hamas fired 5,000 rockets. Armed men from the south of the country invaded Israeli territory by land, air and sea, on motorcycles and paragliders. There were reports that the invaders shot people in the streets and kidnapped dozens of Israelis (including women and children) and took them to Gaza as hostages.
▶️ What was Israel’s reaction? Faced with the Hamas offensive, the Israeli government began retaliatory measures. “We are at war and we will win,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly after the attack. “Our enemy will pay a price he has never known.” Also on October 7, Israel launched bombing raids on the Gaza Strip.
▶️ How many people died? As of the last update of this report, the number of deaths had exceeded 1,800.
▶️ What is the current context of this conflict? Saudi Arabia and the Israeli government were negotiating to establish formal diplomatic relations. The United States is actively working on this. If Israel and Saudi Arabia become allies, Iran, a common enemy of both, will become even more isolated. “The main motivation of Hamas and Iran.” [para o ataque] It was the desire to disrupt this agreement that threatened to isolate them. The idea was to embarrass Arab leaders who have made peace with Israel or might do so,” said Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
▶️ What is the history of conflict in the region? The dispute between Israel and Palestine has been going on for decades and has resulted in numerous armed clashes and deaths. In its modern form, it dates back to 1947, when the United Nations (UN) proposed the creation of two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in Palestine under a British mandate.
▶️ When was Israel recognized as a state? In 1948. Since then, there has been a dispute over territory in the region, and several agreements have attempted to establish peace in the region, but none of them have been successful.
▶️ What is the difference between Israelis and Palestinians? Israelis are citizens of the State of Israel, founded in 1948. Palestinians are the Muslimmajority ethnic Arab people who lived in the region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.