Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception

Hezbollah intervened in the civil war in Syria when the Assad regime was under threat of overthrow. Its intervention caused criticism from Lebanese actors and therefore required the organization to find legitimate foundations upon which to base its involvement. Discourse and rhetoric were the first...

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Main Author: Nail Elhan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: İlmi Etüdler Derneği (İLEM) 2023-09-01
Series:İnsan & Toplum
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.insanvetoplum.org/sayilar/13-3/m0715
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author Nail Elhan
author_facet Nail Elhan
author_sort Nail Elhan
collection DOAJ
description Hezbollah intervened in the civil war in Syria when the Assad regime was under threat of overthrow. Its intervention caused criticism from Lebanese actors and therefore required the organization to find legitimate foundations upon which to base its involvement. Discourse and rhetoric were the first elements that changed following the organization’s decision to intervene. Hezbollah revised its traditional discourse of security, which refers to Israel as the main threat, in 2013 and added an external enemy, the takfiris, which referred to fundamentalist groups in the civil war, as a new threat. However, it returned to its traditional discourse due to the domestic criticisms that followed. This study aims to explain the changing rhetoric of Hezbollah during the civil war in Syria through the frame of the diversionary theory of war. This theory claims that Hezbollah used a diversionary tactic to justify its intervention in the civil war and invented an external enemy as a threat to Lebanese security and territorial integrity.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2146-7099
2602-2745
language English
publishDate 2023-09-01
publisher İlmi Etüdler Derneği (İLEM)
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series İnsan & Toplum
spelling doaj-art-e5ef7497cab34dfbbef8a9b71baf5d9c2025-08-20T03:26:04Zengİlmi Etüdler Derneği (İLEM)İnsan & Toplum2146-70992602-27452023-09-0113316818610.12658/M0715Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat PerceptionNail Elhan0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5058-0280Hitit UniversityHezbollah intervened in the civil war in Syria when the Assad regime was under threat of overthrow. Its intervention caused criticism from Lebanese actors and therefore required the organization to find legitimate foundations upon which to base its involvement. Discourse and rhetoric were the first elements that changed following the organization’s decision to intervene. Hezbollah revised its traditional discourse of security, which refers to Israel as the main threat, in 2013 and added an external enemy, the takfiris, which referred to fundamentalist groups in the civil war, as a new threat. However, it returned to its traditional discourse due to the domestic criticisms that followed. This study aims to explain the changing rhetoric of Hezbollah during the civil war in Syria through the frame of the diversionary theory of war. This theory claims that Hezbollah used a diversionary tactic to justify its intervention in the civil war and invented an external enemy as a threat to Lebanese security and territorial integrity.https://www.insanvetoplum.org/sayilar/13-3/m0715hezbollahsyrian civil wararab uprisingsdiversionary theory of warscapegoatingexternal threat
spellingShingle Nail Elhan
Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception
İnsan & Toplum
hezbollah
syrian civil war
arab uprisings
diversionary theory of war
scapegoating
external threat
title Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception
title_full Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception
title_fullStr Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception
title_full_unstemmed Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception
title_short Hezbollah’s Diversionary War in Lebanon: Continuity and Change in the Threat Perception
title_sort hezbollah s diversionary war in lebanon continuity and change in the threat perception
topic hezbollah
syrian civil war
arab uprisings
diversionary theory of war
scapegoating
external threat
url https://www.insanvetoplum.org/sayilar/13-3/m0715
work_keys_str_mv AT nailelhan hezbollahsdiversionarywarinlebanoncontinuityandchangeinthethreatperception