Due to the inefficiency of the army and militias in Lebanon and the repeated oppression of Shiites, Imam Musa Sadr decided to establish a military structure in the 1970s. he said: "Defending the homeland is not only the duty and responsibility of the government, but all individuals have to defend their country, their land and their home, and if the government does not fulfill its responsibility, the responsibility of defense will not be removed from the nation.

The first military training in the Imam Musa Sadr Organization began secretly under the auspices of the Palestinian Fatah Organization, with a group of 70 graduates from the Jabal Amel Industrial School. Seven months later, on a training day, a landmine suddenly exploded in the hands of a trainer. In this tragic incident, 27 members of the organization were martyred. Following the explosion, Imam Sadr announced the birth of the "Amal" military organization at a press conference.

“Amal" and the Zionist regime

According to Imam Musa Sadr, Palestine is a national-ethnic-Islamic issue. His firm positions in various circles in defense of Palestine have been documented in the documents of the Amal movement. He did not miss any opportunity to deliver a speech in defense of Palestine and the rights of its children, and the duty of Arabs and Muslims to defend and retake it. His famous phrase "We want Al-Quds before the Tyre" reflects his logic. Perhaps this logic led him to carry weapon. This was the starting point of the “Amal” movement.

Amal; the first Islamic movement

The activities of Imam Musa Sadr and Mustafa Chamran, which eventually led to the establishment of the Amal movement, can be considered the first Islamist movement in the region. The importance of this issue lies in the fact that the period of the movement's founding dates back to the 1970s, the years in which the two worlds were practically dominated by the two ideas of the Marxist left and pan-Arabism. Therefore, the success of Imam Sadr and Martyr Chamran in the "Amal" movement can be considered unique.

Reasons for weakening of the Amal movement

1. Imam Musa Sadr's trip to Libya and his disappearance during that trip.

2. The return of Martyr Chamran to Iran to participate in the war against the Ba'athist enemy.

3. The formation of Hezbollah and the attention of some Shiites to this newly established movement.

With the invasion of the Zionist army in 1982, Beirut, the Lebanese capital, was occupied without any resistance by Palestinian groups and the Amal movement, and only in the Khalda, Faculty of Science and Dahiyeh areas, resisted some groups that claimed to be followers of Imam Khomeini and were able to stop the enemy from advancing for a while and keep them behind the gates of Beirut.

After the occupation of half of Lebanon by the Zionist regime in 1982, as a result of negotiations done by a five-member group on behalf of the Lebanese president called the "National Salvation Board", a ceasefire was supposed to be established in Lebanon and Palestinian fighters to leave the country. 

The presence of Nabih Berri (the leader of the Amal movement) in these negotiations caused dissatisfaction among the Shiites and the Amal movement, and some members of the Amal movement, such as its vice President and others, separated from it and took the path of the Islamic Revolution.

After the fall of Beirut in 1982, Shiite forces, including the following groups, moved to Baalbek for military and ideological training:

Islamist groups based in Bekaa included clerics, military, academic and seprated figures from Amal, the Shiite Supreme Council led by Sheikh Mohammad Mehdi Shams al-Din, the Amal movement, independent clerics such as Allama Fazlullah and official Shiite politicians supporters the Lebanese government.

Lebanese Shiite groups got acquainted with the ideas and opinions of the Islamic Revolution and Imam Khomeini (Qadah) during ideological and military exercises in Baalbek that they conducted to confront the Zionist enemy in 1982, and with the help of the Iranian Guard and the ambassador of this country in Damascus, a committee was formed consisting of nine members from the groups in Baalbek. Then a group of five members was formed, and it was called the "Lebanese Council" and it was operating underground. In May 1984, the Council adopted the name "The Lebanese Hezbolah" and opened its political office.

The Hezbolah was formed in circumstances dominated by the character of military resistance to the Israeli occupation that invaded Lebanon in 1982, and therefore the party built its political ideology on the basis of resistance to the occupation. The first successful operations carried out by the party and gained early fame in the Arab world, was that it blew up the headquarters of the American and French forces in October 1983, and that operation resulted in the deaths of 300 American and French soldiers.

With the withdrawal of Israel from the city of Sidon, the newly formed Lebanese resistance issued an open letter on February 16, 1985, expressing its identity, strategy, and ideological agenda.

The goals of the party in this letter are:

• Israel's final expulsion from Lebanon

• Final expulsion of the United States, France and their allies from Lebanon

• Fair trial of phalangists for crimes committed against Muslims and Christians at the instigation of the United States and Israel

• Granting the right to self-determination to the Lebanese people with complete freedom.

The first official defeat of the Zionist regime

January 14, 1985 - On this date, Israel experienced its first official defeat in Lebanon and withdrew from the security belt strip and the city of Sidon.

Following the victory of the resistance movement, Israeli officials became increasingly concerned about the spreading Hezbolah's method of struggle among Muslims in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. As the Israeli Defense Minister at the time Yitzhak Rabin said. "Israel's attack pushed the Shiite monster out of the bottle."

The successful military operations of the Islamic Resistance cost the Israeli army annual losses that amounted to between 22 and 23 dead, and a large number of wounded and prisoners.

Sources of the Islamic Resistance indicate that the average of the military operations it launched from 1989 to 1991 amounted to 292 operations, and between 1992 and 1994 amounted to 465 operations, and between 1995 and 1997 amounted to 936 operations, and the share of the Islamic Resistance was 736 operations.

Operation “Grapes of Wrath”

The operation is considered "the last major attempt by the Zionist entity to suppress the Islamic resistance in Lebanon" before its withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

The operation in 1996, which lasted for 16 days, led to the Qana massacre, during which violent air strikes against Lebanon were prepared. The bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Qana resulted in the deaths of 111 civilians who sought refuge in it, and the injury of 123 others.

The Islamic Resistance trapped Israeli spies in 1997 with Operation Ansariya, and for the first time the Zionist regime suffered a defeat in an intelligence operation.

From 1996 to 2000, the Islamic Resistance consolidated its authority not only in military operations, but also in intelligence operations and media warfare, leading to the complete collapse of the Zionist elements in Lebanon, which marked a turning point in the battle between them.

The military actions of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon were characterized by accuracy in setting targets, surprise and securing the lines of withdrawal, helped by a trained intelligence apparatus. The most famous and successful operations of the resistance was the battle of "Ansariya" in 1997, when a helicopter with sixteen fighters from the Israeli Special Forces on board lured and wiped out all of them.

Following the strengthening of the legitimacy of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance by appearing in the Lebanese parliament in the 1990s, Antoine Lahad's mercenaries unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebanon on June 3, 1999, at the behest of the Israeli army.

The withdrawal process was such that it affected the Israeli elections as well. Netanyahu's rival Ehud Barak has announced that he will withdraw the Israeli army from southern Lebanon within a year if he wins the election. But earlier than his election promise, the Israeli army left Lebanon abruptly on May 24, 2000, and suffered a heavy defeat.

Lebanon declared May 25, 2000, the Day of Resistance and Liberation, a day that brought great achievements, including:

- the defeat of the myth of Israel's indomitable

- The war pattern changed from the classic and libertarian style to the resistance based on martyrdom operations, in contrast to the Arab nationalism pattern.

- Accepting Hezbolah as a symbol of resistance inside and outside Lebanon, especially in Arab and Islamic countries, and its increasing influence on the Palestinian uprising.

After the year 2000

After the victory in 2000, the Lebanese Islamic Resistance adopted the strategy of strengthening its strategic foundations and strong presence in the political, social and cultural spheres.

During the October 2000 Israeli invasion of the Shebaa Farms, resistance took three Israeli soldiers hostage in order to free 14 Lebanese prisoners, some of whom had been held captive by the Zionist regime since 1978. 

On January 25, 2004, in a triumphant agreement with Israel, the Islamic Resistance transferred 30 Arab and Lebanese prisoners, 60 Lebanese military and civilians, 420 Palestinian prisoners, along with Israeli mine plots in exchange for the body of a retired Israeli general (killed in 2001) and three mentioned soldiers.

Contrary to an agreement with Hezbolah, The Zionist regime did not release three Lebanese prisoners in 2004. In July 2006, the Islamic Resistance captured two Zionist soldiers during Operation Al-Waed Al-Sadiq to secure their release. "Israel", in turn, declared war on Lebanon and formally demanded the disarmament of the resistance and the release of its two captives.

The war lasted 33 days, and on the morning of the 34th of August, 2006, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701, a ceasefire was declared, that was a severe defeat for the Tel Aviv regime.