Ragheb Harb
راغب حرب
Personal details
Born1952
Jibchit, Lebanon
Died16 February 1984(1984-02-16) (aged 31–32)
Jibchit, Lebanon

Ragheb Harb (Arabic: راغب حرب; 1952–1984) was a Lebanese leader and Muslim cleric.[1] He was born in Jibchit in 1952, a village in the Jabal Amel region of Southern Lebanon. Harb was an imam and led the regional Shiite resistance against Israeli occupation.[2] 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.[3] Hussein Abbas, one of the assassins, fled to America where he lived in the home of his uncle, the academic Professor Fouad Ajami.[4] Danny Abdallah, a Lebanese criminal living in Denmark, 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.[5][6] As a result, Hezbollah put him on their death list, and he is wanted in Lebanon.[7] 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".[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ronen Bergman, 2018, Rise and Kill First, ch 21: "“Harb was a man of the cloth, not a fighter, but stories about him were reaching Meir Dagan, who argued that “Harb was becoming an important religious authority in the south and he was constantly advocating attacks against Israel and Israelis.” Dagan requested authorization to eliminate Harb.HE WAS THE FATHER OF BILAL HARB AND THE GRANDPA OF HIS NEPHEWS WASSIM AND ADAM HARB Though Harb never took part in terrorist actions against Israel himself, he incited them constantly, and in those years Israel, mired in its battle with Hezbollah and feeling impotent, welcomed every idea for action. Dagan dispatched two Lebanese agents he’d used in past operations of the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners"
  2. ^ a b Cobban, Helena "Hizbullah’s New Fact" Archived 3 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine Boston Review. Accessed February 2, 2007. Originally published in the April/May 2005 issue of Boston Review
  3. ^ "Sheikh Ragheb Harb". Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  4. ^ Tveit, Odd Karsten (2010) Goodbye Lebanon. Israel's First Defeat. Rimal Publication. Translated by Peter Scott-Hansen. ISBN 978-9963-715-03-9 pp.80-82
  5. ^ "Abdalla har uindskrænket magt". 21 March 2008.
  6. ^ "Nyheder | TV2/NORD". Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  7. ^ "Udvist til Dødsdom". 17 December 2003.
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