ASSESSING EFFECTS OF U.S. SANCTIONS ON HEZBOLLAH'S JIHAD AL-BINA'
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Authors
Pilkington, Aaron
Subjects
construction Jihad
Jihad al-Bina'
Wa'ad
Jihad al-Bina'
Wa'ad
Advisors
Ostovar, Afshon P.
Date of Issue
2018-12
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
In the wake of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, the United States designated the Jihad al-Bina’ organization in 2007 and its postwar recovery project Wa’ad in 2009 for its relationship with, and activities supporting, Lebanese Hezbollah. Because of this designation, Jihad al-Bina’ and Wa’ad became subject to sanctions which, in theory, should have undermined their ability to support Hezbollah’s strategic objectives by denying Jihad al-Bina’ access to necessary resources and funding to execute projects. This thesis examines Jihad al-Bina’s projects from 1988–2018 to determine how Jihad al-Bina’ contributed to Hezbollah’s strategic objectives. It also examines how U.S. sanctions against Jihad al-Bina’ in 2007 and its Wa’ad project in 2009 affected their ability to carry out that work. In detailing Jihad al-Bina’s activities and projects during this time period, this thesis compares the number, nature and scale of projects executed by Jihad al-Bina’ prior to and following U.S. sanctions against Jihad al-Bina’ in 2007 and 2009, respectively. This thesis found that these 2007 and 2009 sanctions were ineffective in the near- and long-term. The sanctions failed to deny Jihad al-Bina’ resources necessary to conduct immediate postwar reconstruction and recovery. Moreover, Jihad al-Bina’ expanded the size and scope of projects, and grew in size and legitimacy in the postwar era between 2009 and the present.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
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NPS Report Number
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Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.