Islamic Jihad Organization

Islamic Jihad Organization
LeadersImad Mughniyeh[1]
Dates of operationEarly 1983–1992
HeadquartersBeirut, Baalbek
Size400 fighters
AlliesIslamic Revolutionary Guards
 Hezbollah
Amal Movement
Islamic Dawa Party[2]
OpponentsIsrael Defense Forces (IDF)
South Lebanon Army (SLA)
Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF)
Battles and warsLebanese civil war (1975–1990)

The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO; French: Organisation du Jihad Islamique (OJI); Arabic: حركة الجهاد الإسلامي, romanizedḤarakat al-Jihād al-'Islāmiyy, lit.'Islamic Jihad Movement') was a Lebanese Shia militia known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War.[3]

The organization, advocating for the withdrawal of all Americans from Lebanon, claimed responsibility for a number of kidnappings, assassinations, and bombings of embassies and peacekeeping troops which killed several hundred people.[4] Their deadliest attacks were in 1983, when they carried out the bombing of the barracks of French and U.S. MNF peacekeeping troops, and that of the United States embassy in Beirut.

The group was closely linked with Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Islam and reportedly financed by Iran.[4] It also maintained close ties with Hezbollah. Adam Shatz described Islamic Jihad as "a precursor to Hezbollah, which did not yet officially exist" at the time of the bombing it took credit for.[5]

  1. ^ "Hezbollah's most wanted commander killed in Syria bomb". Reuters. 13 February 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  2. ^ "حزب الدعوة العراقي.. النسخة الشيعية لجماعة الإخوان المسلمين".
  3. ^ "Islamic Jihad Organization (Lebanon) / Islamic Jihad (IJO)". Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium.
  4. ^ a b Najem, Tom; Amore, Roy C.; Abu Khalil, As'ad (2021). Historical Dictionary of Lebanon. Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East (2nd ed.). Lanham Boulder New York London: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-5381-2043-9.
  5. ^ Adam Shatz (29 April 2004). "In Search of Hezbollah". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 14 August 2006.

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