Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon and is supported and funded by Iran and serves as their proxy in regional wars. From the inception of Hezbollah to the present the establishment of a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees to what became Israel has been a primary goal for Hezbollah. Hezbollah not only opposes the government and policies of the State of Israel, but also each and every Jewish civilian who lives in Israel. Its 1985 manifesto reportedly states "our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no ceasefire, and no peace agreements."
^Sheikh Hassan Izz al-Din, Hezbollah media relations director, said, "[T]he Jews need to leave." Avi Jovisch, Beacon of Hatred: Inside Hizballah's Al-Manar Television (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2004), pp. 62–90. qtd. by Wistrich, A Lethal Obsession, p. 774