Ragheb Harb ( ar, راغب حرب; 1952–1984 was a Lebanese leader and Muslim

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. He was born in Jibchit in 1952, a village in the

Jabal Amel Jabal Amil ( ar, جبل عامل, Jabal ʿĀmil), also spelled Jabal Amel and historically known as Jabal Amila, is a cultural and geographic region in Southern Lebanon largely associated with its long-established, predominantly Twelver Shia Musl ...

region of

Southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...

. Harb was an imam and led the regional Shiite resistance against Israeli occupation. In March 1983 he was detained by the Israel Defense Forces, but following wide spread demonstrations throughout southern Lebanon he was released seventeen days later. On 16 February 1984 he was assassinated by Lebanese collaborators working for

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...

. Hussein Abbas, one of the assassins, fled to America where he lived in the home of his uncle, the academic Professor

Fouad Ajami Fouad A. Ajami ( ar, فؤاد عجمي; September 18, 1945 – June 22, 2014) was a MacArthur Fellowship winning, Lebanese-born American university professor and writer on Middle Eastern issues. He was a senior fellow at Stanford University's Ho ...

. Danny Abdallah, a Lebanese criminal living in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, admitted to having killed Harb on behalf of the Israelis, and also claimed to have participated in the kidnapping of Harb's successor,

Abdul Karim Obeyd Abdel Karim Obeid (; ar, الشيخ عبد الكريم عبيد; born 1957) is a Sheikh and Imam of the village of Jibchit in south Lebanon, high-place of Lebanese Shiism. Life Regarded as the spiritual leader and soldier of the 'Islamic Am ...

. As a result, Hezbollah put him on their death list, and he is wanted in Lebanon. According to one source, Harb's supporters would go on to form the Lebanese paramilitary and political organization Hezbollah. He belonged to the first Shiite party in Lebanon, the " Amal Movement".Cobban, Helen
"Hizbullah’s New Fact"
''Boston Review''. Accessed February 2, 2007. Originally published in the April/May 2005 issue of ''Boston Review''

References

1952 births 1984 deaths Assassinated Lebanese politicians People killed in Mossad operations Amal Movement politicians 20th-century Lebanese politicians {{Lebanon-bio-stub

See also

References