Lebanon’s Hizbollah, which translates as ’the party of God’, was formed as a guerrilla force to fight the Israeli occupation in 1982. The party, which started as a splinter group from the mainstream Amal Shia movement in Lebanon, was at the time closely linked to a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary guards that helped set it up and train it.

Until the mid-1980s, it remained largely decentralised with several factions operating under its umbrella. The group issued a manifesto announcing its existence in 1985 and elected its first secretary-general in 1987.