Hizballah video game

The New Arab, Protect Shia shrines from IS jihadists in latest Hizballah video game ""Holy Defence" is the latest Hizballah-inspired shooter based on the Lebanese militant group's recent battles against the jihadist group in Syria and at home."

Image source

Hezbollah's Tech-Savvy, Platform-Agnostic Guerrilla Marketing Campaign

businessweek.com, Hezbollah's Tech-Savvy, Platform-Agnostic Guerrilla Marketing Campaign, 5 Jun 2014 "There’s a setting in Special Force 2 that lets you kill as many Israeli soldiers as you want, no matter how many times you get blown up. This would be called “God mode” in a typical first-person shooter video game. But the developers behind Special Force 2 belong to Hezbollah, “the party of God” in Arabic, and follow the Islamic tenet that there is no god except God. So the setting is named shahid—martyr—mode."

Number of Shia Fighters in Syria Could Rise Following Fatwa

VOA, Number of Shia Fighters in Syria Could Rise Following Fatwa, 16 Dec 2013   "How fighters are transported to Syria has become clearer recently with many of the volunteers posting online on Facebook and other social media sites how they got to Syria. Volunteers go to Iran initially and train there before flying to Lebanon from where they are taken into Syria with Hezbollah forces. Many of the fighters in their Internet postings say they were motivated to volunteer for Syria because of their determination to protect Shia shrines."

Facebook Removes Hizbullah Pages

MEMRI, Today, Facebook Removes Hizbullah Pages – Following MEMRI Series On Hizbullah Facebook Activity, 17 Oct 2012 "Last night, Facebook removed these two new Hizbullah Al-Manar TV pages, as well as a page belonging to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. This latter page, while it was created in October 2011, has never been shut down; its removal is a new move for Facebook."

See this interesting related article, which came out last month: NYT, Free Speech in the Age of YouTube

Information on MEMRI is here

Hizbullah Infographic

MEMRI, Hizbullah Website Features Infographic On Closing The Strait Of Hormuz, Illustrates Iranian Attack On U.S. Aircraft Carrier "The official Hizbullah website www.english.moqawama.org, along with the Iranian weekly Panjereh (http://panjerehweekly.ir), published an infographic titled "Hormoz [sic] Straits– A Choke Point In the Hand of the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps].""

Opinion piece: "Hezbollah’s Propagandist Bloggers Defend Assad"

Opinion/analysis: Ali Abdallah, Family Security Matters, Hezbollah’s Propagandist Bloggers Defend Assad

WikiLeaks on Hizbullah's fibre optics

Guardian, Lebanon told allies of Hezbollah's secret network, WikiLeaks shows, 5 Dec 2010 "Lebanon's western-backed government warned its friends that "Iran telecom" was taking over the country two years ago when it uncovered a secret communications network across the country used by Hezbollah, according to a US state department cable."

Hezbollah Allegations: Israel infiltrating mobile network

alarabiya.net, Hezbollah accuses Israel of infiltrating mobile network, 23 Nov 2010: "Israel bugged the mobile phones of members of Lebanon's Hezbollah, allowing it to send false text messages and to track the phones' movements, a senior Hezbollah MP and a government expert said on Tuesday"

'The Laptop James Bonds'

Neal Ungerleider, Esquire blogs, The Politics blog, The Laptop James Bonds, 22 Sep 2010 "For all their commitment to destroying modern society, jihadists are surprisingly fluent in social media, organizing over an extensive network of comment boards and chat rooms. Somalia's al-Shabaab and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have YouTube accounts, Hezbollah has an Internet television channel, and Hamas posts to Twitter. While America's intelligence services monitor some of these forums, a loose coalition of thrill-seeking, all-American bloggers is helping keep the rest of us safe by exposing terrorist plots — despite threats to their own lives."

Joumana Haddad

Aida Edemariam, Guardian, Joumana Haddad: 'I live in a country that hates me', 21 Aug 2010 discusses I Killed Scheherazade: Confessions of An Angry Arab Woman (and many other issues). Also refers the Jasadmagazine, which I have previously blogged about (although the site needs updating).

Hizbullah hacks

ArabCrunch, “Hezbollah” Hacked “Israeli Drones” Transmissions Since Before 1996, 10 Aug 2010 "In today’s Press conference Lebanon’s “Hezbollah” Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah, displayed a video of an “Israeli drone” video transmission Hezbollah managed to hack in 1996."

Ayatollah Mohammed-Hussein Fadlallah

A range of coverage relates to Ayatollah Fadlallah's death:

Bayynat, 5 July 2010 (screenshot)

Daily Star, Lebanon mourns loss of Sayyed Fadlallah, 5 Jul 2010 "“Sayyed Fadlallah has died this morning,” senior aide Ayatollah Abdullah al-Ghurayfi told a news conference, flanked by the late cleric’s son, Sayyed Ali Fadlallah.

"“The father, the leader, the marja [religious authority], the guide, the human being is gone,” Ghurayfi said."

LA Times, Babylon & Beyond, Hezbollah spiritual mentor Fadlallah dies at 74, 5 Jul 2010 "His death highlights a vacuum of spiritual leadership within Lebanon’s Shiite community and likely will spur a power struggle within the religious establishment and soul-searching among the faithful."

NYT, Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah, Shiite Cleric, Dies at 75, 4 Jul 2010 "Since the early 1990s, he adopted a more pragmatic tone, preaching against the division between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. He raised money for a sprawling international network of charities and willingly met with prominent Americans, including critics of his beliefs, and considered dialogue with the enemy an Islamic imperative."

For an alternative view, see Con Coughlin, Telegraph, Sheikh Falallah was the terrorist mastermind behind the Lebanon hostage crisis, 5 Jul 2010 "Don’t be fooled by all the tributes that are pouring out following the death in Beirut at the weekend of Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the so-called spiritual leader of the radical Shi’ite Muslim militia Hizbollah..."

Bayynat have been prominent in placing online the opinions of Ayatollah Fadlallah, as I have discussed in my writings.  

Ongoing trial

Derby Telegraph, Muslim said he felt deaths of US soldiers were a 'gift', 25 Nov 09 "A DERBY Muslim arrested for terrorism offences told people he met online that "when American soldiers die it is like the whole world has given me a gift" ...

" ... As well as the videos, police searching Lusha's Moore Street home found many documents downloaded from the internet, including a Hezbollah military instruction manual, Middle Eastern terrorist bomb design, improvised radio detonation techniques and a Mujahideen explosives handbook."

American Muslims, Detroit and the web

Paul Egan, The Detroit News, FBI works to cut tension with Arab community, 8 Oct 09

"After the FBI's Andrew Arena gave a recent talk in Dearborn, three teenagers approached him and asked if it was illegal for them to listen to songs that tout Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization.

""I said, 'No, it's the United States, you can listen to whatever you want,'" Arena, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit, recalled telling them.

""Can we go on pro-Hezbollah Web sites?" one of the teenagers asked.

""Yes, this is America," Arena answered.

""However, "the minute you push the button to send money to Hezbollah ... you've crossed the line.""

Report: 'Terrorist Financing on the Internet'

Michael Jacobson, Terrorist Financing on the Internet, CTC Sentinel, June 2009 "In response to growing international pressure since the September 11 attacks, al-Qaeda has increasingly relied on the internet to spread its message and gain support throughout the world. In addition, al-Qaeda has used the web's broad reach, timely efficiency, and certain degree of anonymity and security as a conduit for terrorist financing. Unfortunately, al-Qaeda is not the only terrorist group that exploits the internet for financing; groups such as Hamas, Laskhar-e Taiba, and Hizballah also use the internet to raise and transfer funds to support their groups' activities. Although there is broad international agreement that the internet creates serious counterterrorism vulnerabilities and that action is needed to counter this growing threat, there is far less agreement on what steps need to be taken."

PDF here

Hizbullah

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), Hezbollah senior activist Omar al-Moussawi stressed that while Britain’s policy toward the organization had changed, the organization itself had not: Hezbollah, he said, is one entity and no distinction can be made between its military and political wings, and will continue its terrorist activities (“resistance”) and refuse to recognize Israel, 30 Mar 09

aQ on Hizbullah

Ya Libnan, Al-Qaeda attacks Hezbollah for failing to defend Gaza, 29 Jan 09 "An Al-Qaeda operative and former Guantanamo detainee has attacked the Lebanese Shia movement , Hezbollah, for failing to defend Palestinians from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. In a video released on the internet, Abu Hureira Qasim al-Rimi directed his attack against Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah."

Jasad

Ian Black, Guardian, From Voyeur's Corner to My First Time: new magazine attempts to lift veil on Arab taboos, 13 Dec 08 "

Article discussing the impact of the controversial magazine Jasad (cover left, logo right):

"In a region where the majority are Muslims, Arabic is revered as the language of the Qur'an and the trend is for bodies to be covered up rather than exposed - let alone in all their intimacy - this daring experiment has triggered both anger and excitement.

"Officials of Hizbullah, the powerful Lebanese Shia movement, tried to close Jasad's stand at this week's Beirut book fair. One outraged visitor ripped down a poster, complaining that the subject matter was "haram" - forbidden. Visitors to the website of the popular al-Arabiya TV have attacked it. "Stop promoting this blatant vulgarity and obscenity," was one furious comment. But another said: "Amazing magazine! Oh Lord, please let it be distributed in Jordan!" A Saudi man pledged to buy 50,000 copies and distribute them free "to open people's minds"."

The Jasad magazine's website is here I haven't read this magazine yet, so cannot comment on its content.

Hamas/Hizbullah sites taken down

Jerusalem Post, Web vigilante takes down terror sites, 14 Jul 08 "The Canadian Internet service provider iWeb recently removed three Web sites powered by Hamas and Hizbullah from their network of subscribers after complaints were filed against the company ...

" ... The first of the illicit URLs was discovered by Toronto native Jonathan HaLevi while monitoring the Internet under the auspices of the Orient Research Group Ltd. which he co-founded. HaLevi is a senior researcher of the Middle East and Radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

""The Internet is an important tool for terrorist organizations to recruit, instruct, operate cells and build what they call 'The Islamic Nation' to launch the 'jihad against the infidels,'" HaLevi told The Jerusalem Post."

The article didn't refer to which Hamas site was taken down, but pages relating to Hamas and Hizbullah (al-Manar) remain online.

Hizbullah Telecoms Mapped(?)

geopolitique.com, Exclusif : la carte du réseau télécom du Hezbollah, 16 May 08 well, maybe. Diolch: Abu Muqawama