Hizballah’s foundation and the Syrian connection

For the past forty years, the Syria–Hizballah relationship stood on its own merits, and as evident by Hizballah’s military involvement in the Syrian war in the last decade, Assad’s regime still had some Hizballah debt notes left to redeem. Notwithstanding, the academic research focused primarily on Iran’s relationship with Hizballah. This article examines the foundations of the Syria–Hizballah relationship through observing their cooperations and confrontations in the 1980s, and their related interactions with other relevant actors. The analysis shows that their relationship was mutually beneficial, and influenced their individual policies. At the end of the 1980s these interrelations had become paramount to Hizballah’s survival, cementing those as a patron–client connection.