Hezbollah in International Law

In the context of the 2005 attack that killed Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, the 2006 war with Israel, the 2008 internal armed conflict in Lebanon, the Syrian civil war and the current war in Gaza, this book studies the legal status of Hezbollah as a State or a non-State actor. There are important consequences to this distinction, ones that relate to international law, the qualification of an armed conflict and combatants as well as Lebanon’s responsibilities toward the international community for complicity in the wrongdoings of a State (Iran) and a non-State actor (Hezbollah). After exploring Hezbollah’s history and domestic law, the book argues that Lebanon legalised Hezbollah as an armed group and political party, and while Hezbollah acts at times as the State of Lebanon, it cannot be considered a State and subject of international law as it lacks State elements. As an alternative, Mireille Rebeiz proposes to adopt the theory of quasi-State, where a failed State co-exists with a non-State actor and shares its sovereignty. Following the 7th October attacks and the ongoing conflict with Israel, the question of the legal status of Hezbollah remains valid today.

Author Biography

Mireille Rebeiz is the Chair of Middle East Studies and Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, Francophone Studies & Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Dickinson College (USA). She is also Adjunct Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. She received her first Doctorate (PhD) in Francophone Studies from Florida State University and her second doctorate (SJD) in International Law from Penn State Dickinson Law. She also holds a Master’s Degree in International Law and Human Rights from Université de Rouen in France, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Saint-Joseph University in Lebanon. Her teaching and research are interdisciplinary and focus on the intersectionality of law, gender, sexuality, oral history, and trauma in the context of armed conflicts with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Her research interests include international law, terrorism, State and non-State actors, and memory laws. She has written and successfully published monographs, several peer-reviewed essays, and editorials in national and international presses. Her first book Gendering Civil War. Francophone Women’s Writing in Lebanon (EUP, 2022) earned her the AAUW American Fellowship and was nominated for the John Leonard Prize.