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I couldn’t remember the details about hos Hezb’allah came to be and looked back at my notes. In case anyone else also has a problem keeping the playings straight, here is help:

Hezbollah’s history begins with the Israeli 1982 Israeli occupation of Lebanon to root out and expel Yasser Arafat and the PLO who has taken over Beirut as a base from which to attack Israel.

Hezbollah was formed by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to combat the Israeli presence, and to assist the PLO’s efforts to destroy Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state.
Arafat and his henchman had transformed Beirut from the ‘Jewel of the Middle East’ into an apocalyptic wasteland. Its beautiful boulevards became killing fields, its hotels and tourist centers became military command posts.
By 1983, the situation had become so bad that Ronald Reagan ordered a contingent of US Marines to Beirut to protect the embassy. Hezbollah, using Iranian explosives ferried to them via Damascus, car-bombed both the Marine barracks and the US Embassy, killing 242 Marines.
In one of the greatest blunders of his presidency, President Reagan ordered the immediate withdrawal of US forces, ceding the field to Hezbollah and giving terrorists their first victory over the ‘Great Satan’ and establishing America’s reputation as a ‘paper tiger’.
In 1988, Hezbollah kidnapped Marine Lt. Col Rich Higgins as a hostage. Hezbollah later hanged Col Higgins, videotaping his murder and sending it along to Washington.