Michael K. Nagata
Terrorist recruitment wins the latest Hezbollah-Israel battle
The ongoing violent clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, militarily significant though they are, have ramifications far beyond just the military, political, or ideological hostilities between these belligerents. Among them is a large and growing opportunity for expanded regional and global terrorist recruitment, incitement, and future attacks that, prior to Oct. 7, 2023, the United States and many other countries had concluded were on a permanent downward trajectory.
Regardless of how justified either actor, Israel or Hezbollah, may be in their reciprocal attacks, the perceptions cascading from Israeli assaults on an “Arab state” such as Lebanon are contributing to an already rich recruitment breeding-ground that will foster the next generation of terrorists. It matters little that Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran, for “recruitment” is mostly an appeal to the heart and its grievances, not the head.
Both Sunni and Shi’a populations, across the Middle East and around the world, are not only outraged by attacks on Muslim population centers, they are further angered by the damage they believe is being done to Lebanon, popularly regarded as the “pearl of the Middle East.” This anger is further compounded by pre-existing scars left by Israel’s invasions of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982, its occupation of the south from 1985 to 2000, and its most recent war with Hezbollah in 2006.
These current events provide terrorist recruiters a treasure trove of compelling stories (regardless of how false or misleading they may be) that can and will be used to attract an entirely new generation of violent extremists and scores of new sympathizers/enablers. And importantly, it matters little whether that recruiter operates in the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia, or anywhere else in the world. The advent of the internet’s myriad methods of generating compelling and attractive virtual connections will enable those recruiters to create the next global wave of jihadist terrorism.
Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael K. Nagata is a Distinguished Senior Fellow on National Security at MEI. He retired from the US Army in 2019, after 38 years of active duty, with 34 years in US Special Operations. His final position was director of strategy for the National Counterterrorism Center from 2016 to 2019.
