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When talking about Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, we are talking about a group that conducts operation in different parts of the word to push their ideas and beliefs. Both groups have targeted military, government, and civilian population for their cause. Al Qaeda gained a lot of notice when 9/11 happened which showed the world their tactics that focused on asymmetrical warfare, leveraging small, committed cells to carry out high-impact operations against anyone. Al Qaeda uses fighters of all ages which they recruit by using the Koran as a base for their ideas. The ideas that they should fight the outsiders that has shown during the wars that was fought during Iraq and Afghanistan. When I talked with the village Elders, they said that they would come to their villages to recruit and or commit acts of violence towards any forces outside what they believed as a traitor to their beliefs. The fighting style that they showed was hit and run or guerrilla tactics with not a lot of military training. Hezbollah was very similar to what Al Qaeda was doing during the attacks that they were doing in Syria. Hezbollah is a backed organization that showed more organization when it came to fighting. The weapons that they have used was more modern then what Al Qaeda used in the past. The training showed that they had more of a military mind set and training then the training camps that Al Qaeda showed during the media outlets showed. Hezbollah has shown that they attack more political parties then the other and has been involved in Lebanese politics. This shows that they would rather stay more in the middle east and focus everything that they have on pressuring other political parties to do what they want. Each organization uses similar tactics when conducting attacks on targets, but Al Qaeda targets everyone and anything to gain notoriety. While there is a lot of similarities with each group the difference shows that one is organized by being state funded and the other is self-reliant on the cells that is spread out all over the world. Hezbollah is more community supported cause they give back while Al Qaeda is more idea based and tries to make world that has not been in exitance for a long time. Each organization should be condemned and brought to trial for the crimes that they have committed, but it is hard to catch and end an idea or belief.
Resources
Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. Columbia University Press, 2006.
Riedel, Bruce. The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future. Brookings Institution Press, 2008.
Norton, Augustus Richard. Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton University Press, 2007.