Mohammad Yazbek

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Mohammad Yazbek
An image of Mohammad Yazbek in an interview with AhlulBayt News Agency in 2014
Born1950 (age 73–74)
Bodai, Baalbek District, Lebanon
NationalityLebanese
OccupationCleric
Years active1980s–present
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Mohammad Yazbek (born 1950) is a Lebanese cleric. He is one of the Hezbollah founders and the head of the Sharia or religious council of the organization.

Early life and education[edit]

Yazbek hails from a family based in Bodai, a town near Baalbek in northern Lebanon.[1][2] He was born there in 1950.[3] He studied theology in Najaf, Iraq, as a pupil of Mohammad Baqr Al Sadr.[4][5]

Career[edit]

After completing his studies in Iraq, Yazbek returned to Lebanon in 1980.[4] He actively contributed to the establishment of khawzas, Shiite religious institutions, in Lebanon.[6] He was a member of Amal movement before his involvement in the foundation of Hezbollah.[7][8]

Abbas Musawi, Subhi Tufayli and Yazbek, all from the Bekaa valley, founded Hezbollah in 1982.[4][9] Yazbek supported the revolt of Tufayli in 1987 against the power inequality in Hezbollah in favor of those, who hail from southern Lebanon.[10] Then Yazbek became a senior Hezbollah leader in the Bekaa valley in the 1990s.[11] He issues fatwas in regard to the activities of Hezbollah one of which was in 2006 concerning the production of the exact copies of Captagon by the group.[12] Through this fatwa its production and sale were allowed, but the fatwa also required that it should not be consumed by any Hezbollah member.[12][13]

Yazbek is the representative of supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, in the Bekaa valley.[14] He is responsible for distributing the financial grants allocated by Khamenei's office to Hezbollah.[15] In addition, Yazbek is the special representative of Hezbollah's secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and a member of Hezbollah's supreme council, exclusive shura council.[16][17][18] In 2009, Yazbek was again elected to the shura council.[19] He also heads the Sharia council of Hezbollah, which is also known as higher legal committee.[4][9]

Views[edit]

Yazbek praised the bombing of the barracks of the marine peacekeepers in Beirut on 23 October 1983 which killed 241 U.S. military members reporting that it shook America’s throne and France’s might.[20] He also added "Let America and Israel know that we have a lust for martyrdom and that our motto is being turned into reality."[20] He employs an analogy between the Battle of the Camel, first civil war among Muslims, and Hezbollah's use of arms in an attempt to make the armed attacks of Hezbollah legitimate.[21] In 2012, he led to tensions when he revived a historical controversy between Sunnis and Shiites publicly criticising Aisha who was the third spouse of Muhammad.[21]

Assassination attempt and sanctions[edit]

On 9 December 2005, Yazbek escaped an assassination attempt unhurt in Baalbek.[22][23] The bomb blast outside his home caused no casualties.[24]

In May 2017, Yazbek was subject to the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and some of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in addition to other nine senior Hezbollah figures.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Lebanon: One Good Reason for IDF's Interest in Baalbek". Lebanonwire. 26 August 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  2. ^ Hikmat Shreif (19 August 2006). "Israel commando raid rattles Lebanon truce". Lebanon Wire. Baalbek. AFP. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Mohammad Yazbek". Eye on Hezbollah. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Zvi Barel (25 February 2013). "Who's breathing down Hezbollah leader's neck?". Haaretz. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  5. ^ Nicholas Blanford (2011). Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah's Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel. New York: Random House. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-679-60516-4.
  6. ^ R. Erlich; Y. Kahati (June 2007). "Hezbollah as a case study of the battle for hearts and minds". Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
  7. ^ Amal Saad (2019). "Challenging the sponsor-proxy model: the Iran–Hizbullah relationship". Global Discourse. 9 (4): 631. doi:10.1332/204378919X15718898344883. S2CID 212939019.
  8. ^ Eva Dingel (2016). Power Struggles in the Middle East: The Islamist Politics of Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood. London; New York: I.B. Tauris. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-78672-115-0.
  9. ^ a b "IRGC-Hezbollah Captagon Ring Compromised by War Over Profits". Middle East Transparent. 27 April 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  10. ^ "Sayyed Nasrallah re-elected for another term". The Weekly Middle East Reporter. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Hezbollah seeks Dollars American tourists bring". Reading Eagle. 25 December 1994. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  12. ^ a b Boaz Ganor; Miri Halperin Wernli (2013). "The Infiltration of Terrorist Organizations Into the Pharmaceutical Industry: Hezbollah as a Case Study". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 36 (9): 704. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2013.813244. S2CID 110044932.
  13. ^ Carl Anthony Wege (2016). "Anticipatory Intelligence and the Post-Syrian War Hezbollah Intelligence Apparatus". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 29 (2): 257. doi:10.1080/08850607.2016.1121039. S2CID 155476605.
  14. ^ John Kifner; Warren Hoge (3 August 2006). "200 Missiles Hit Israel as Battle Rages in Lebanon". The New York Times. Beirut. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  15. ^ Zvi Barel (28 February 2013). "What's troubling Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah?". Haaretz. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  16. ^ "Hezbollah: Israel Unable to Attack Iran". Fars News Agency. 17 August 2009. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  17. ^ "Geagea: Nasrallah Believes he has a 'Sharia representative' among Christians". Lebanon Wire. 29 December 2009. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  18. ^ Dominique Avon; Anaïs-Trissa Khatchadourian; Jane Marie Todd (2012). Hezbollah: A History of the "Party of God". Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-674-06752-3.
  19. ^ Shimon Shapira (17 December 2009). "Has Hizbullah Changed?" (PDF). Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  20. ^ a b Michael T. Kindt (2009). "Hezbollah: a State within a State". In Michael T. Kindt; Jerrold M. Post; Barry R. Schneider (eds.). The World's Most Threatening Terrorist Networks and Criminal Gangs. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 128. doi:10.1057/9780230623293. ISBN 978-1-349-38077-0.
  21. ^ a b Are John Knudsen (Fall 2013). "Sheikhs and the City. Urban Paths of Contention in Sidon, Lebanon". Conflict and Society. 6 (1). doi:10.3167/arcs.2020.060103. S2CID 225867580.
  22. ^ "Embattled Hezbollah backs Iraq 'doves of peace'". Ekklesia. 12 December 2005. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  23. ^ "Hezbollah militant survives bomb attack". Lebanonwire. 10 December 2010. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  24. ^ "Hezbollah militant escapes blast". BBC. 11 December 2005. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  25. ^ Zeina Karam; Bassem Mroue (15 November 2018). "Militant or poet? US sanctions Hezbollah leader's son". Associated Press. Beirut. Retrieved 3 March 2022.

External links[edit]

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