Hezbollah communication strategy

Hezbollah (the “Party of God”) is a Shiite military and political group based in Lebanon. It is construed by the international intelligence community as a proxy of Iran, its largest benefactor, in exerting regional influence by creating opposition against Israel as well as the presence of Western powers in the Middle East (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, n.d.). Known as a state within a state, the organization found its footing following the 15-year civil war in the Levantine nation (Robinson, 2022). It has spent the last few decades striving for legitimacy and relevance as a political organization in Lebanon and has done so following a sophisticated communication strategy aimed at domestic and international audiences (Colleau, 2015).

Strategy overview

• Specific and targeted communication based on audience
• Customized messages based on communication channel
• The objective is to enhance visibility, widen its support base, and increase its influence, not to alienate and terrorize potential supporters
• Hezbollah communicates its existential necessity through the mobilization of public opinion
• Types of media include community radio and television, entertainment content, children’s programmes, in addition to political, social, and religious documentaries
• Much communication is centered on charisma around Hasan Nasrallah, leveraging his celebrity and personal chronology to create connections with Shiite audiences (Scurlock, 2017)
• Use of war memorabilia products or merchandise as communication tools
• The group transitioned from an exclusionary jihadi movement to an inclusive political party that seeks to represent a segment of the Lebanese population and resist Israeli oppression and injustice
• Every action serves to communicate the group’s larger ideology and conduct psychological warfare against enemies

Theory

Communication Accommodation Theory has the best association with Hezbollah’s communication strategy. They are able to craft their messaging around the audience as well as the channel on which they are reaching their target. Their focus on Nasrallah as a preeminent figure representing the Hezbollah cause also touches on parasocial interaction, which elevates the conversation from one that occurs between strangers to that which develops between friends, despite having no personal or physical interaction between the two parties. Leveraging a fabricated persona using Nasrallah’s background and personal chronology, the organization is able to capture the hearts and minds of its audience as a legitimate political actor and moral arbiter for Lebanese society. The group is able to highlight the importance of Nasrallah at the helm as someone who has experienced oppression and uses his influence to embody resistance to foreign powers (both politically and ideologically) for the common man.

Taliban communication strategy

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist group in Afghanistan. Founded in the 1990s by Islamic guerilla fighters, its purpose then was to resist Soviet forces in the country with the support of the CIA and the Pakistani ISI. Ousted by the US-led invasion in 2001, the organization has since regrouped and ascended to power following America’s military exit from the country. Today, its primary purpose is to impose a strict implementation of Shariah law. This rise back to power has transitioned the Taliban from a military insurgent group to a bureaucracy. Public approval ratings of the group have plummeted between 2009 and 2019, from half of the Afghan demographic to 13.4%  maintaining sympathy for the Taliban and its cause (Maizland, 2023).

Strategy overview

• Internationally-oriented communications explaining the Taliban’s cause
• Domestic messaging is focused on an us-vs-them narrative, casting foreigners and Western forces as infidels (Foxley, n.d.)
• Frame violence as a doctrinally justified necessity and the sole means of achieving a desired state and ending oppression
• Attempt to create a segment of fence-sitters in the population, persuading them from a negative view of the organization to a more ambivalent opinion
• Use of exaggerated and fabricated information to target domestic populations of troop-contributing nations
• Luring Western powers into hostilities with the goal of engaging and enraging local Muslim populations (Bockstette, 2009)
• Branding international media as “fake news” organizations with hostile agenda
• View of media as an important element of psychological warfare and war of morale, which are just as critical as field battle
• Limited awareness of the power of different communication platforms and channels

Theory

The Taliban are excellent perpetrators of the narrative paradigm theory, which posits that a good story is more convincing than a sound argument. By using well-constructed stories and painting foreign forces in a bad light, the terrorist group is able to create a false us-vs-them dichotomy between the domestic population and Western powers present in their territory. Through exaggerated and even fabricated information, the Taliban uses storytelling to change public perception of the organization, persuading them to switch from a negative view to a more ambivalent opinion on the way to a supportive stance through careful information cultivation. Using the power of persuasion, the Taliban gathers support for its ideologically-backed existence, regardless of the logical arguments against the group for its violence against and mistreatment of vulnerable segments of the population, such as women and children.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) communication strategy

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a Sunni extremist group which rose to international notoriety for its violent ideology (RAND Corporation, n.d.). The organization claims religious authority over Muslims across the globe and seeks to impose its literal interpretation of Islamic doctrine over its territorial borders. Rising to power in the wake of the power vacuum left by the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, the organization formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) began to seize territory in the country as well as Syria. By June 2014, ISIS had declared the institution of a Muslim caliphate covering the two nations. Its violence became known across the world for public beheadings of Western captives, a membership composed of radicalized foreign fighters, and a savvy media presence that dominated global airwaves in the mid-2010s (Stanford University, n.d.).

Strategy overview

• Strategic use of global communication platforms such as social media to express ideology and gain support through radicalization
• Use of social media for recruitment and fundraising (Berger, 2015)
• Tactical workarounds for community guidelines set by private social media platforms, such as privacy settings, thereby enabling highly-targeted communications
• Recognition of media as an instrument of policy (Khawaja and Khan, 2016)
• Integration of shock value as a pillar of communication for maximum results in earned media
• Leveraging own digital app (Dawn of Glad Tidings) as a way to directly connect with sympathizers and supports (Pellerin, 2016)
• Claiming attacks by lone wolves as part of ISIS operations to project an image of scale and reach

Theory

ISIS gained infamy in international media through its use of high-shock-value communications, disseminating images and texts that provoke strong reactions from viewers, including disgust, fear, and shock. Due to the notorious imagery, such as public beheadings of Westerners, global media outfits provided massive amounts of coverage to the terror network and created an atmosphere of fear around the world for the potential of ISIS to reach international borders. The organization also claimed unrelated attacks by lone wolves as part of its transnational operations, which allowed it to craft an image of a much larger footprint than it actually possessed. On the back of constant international media presence for months and months, the terror group successfully exploited Agenda Setting Theory by letting global news outfits shape public discourse, highlighting the development of ISIS in the region, as well as its potential to mount attacks on other nations. Furthermore, ISIS leveraged its global notoriety for social mobilization, successfully recruiting foreign fighters hailing from the West and raising funds from sympathizers around the world.

Differences and similarities in communication foundations

Hezbollah’s communication efforts are mainly aimed at the Lebanese population, as their objective is to gain legitimacy as a political party that represents the people against Western oppression. There is much focus on the power of celebrity and cult of personality as well, with messaging around its leader Nasrallah. The terror group espouses an inclusive approach to communication, seeing the domestic population as a source of support and power.

The Taliban, on the other hand, aims most of its communication toward international audiences, speaking from a position of domestic influence with high ratings of approval, support and sympathy from the people of Afghanistan. Due to this level of support, the Taliban had latitude in terms of how it treated the people it governed and, therefore not always acted in their best interest. Both the Taliban and Hezbollah capitalized on us-vs-them narratives to justify violence as a means to end Israeli and Western oppression. The organization also used fabricated events and information to gain support for the cause, not dissimilar from ISIS. In contrast with the latter, the Taliban viewed media as an instrument of psychological warfare rather than policy.

ISIS, being the most notorious terrorist entity in modern history, implemented communication campaigns not only to express ideological beliefs but also to socially mobilize supporters and recruit them into working directly for the organization. Their brilliant manipulation of social media platforms worked in their favour in terms of filling their ranks with foreign fighters while also engaging in fear-based communication with the rest of the world. Through the use of shock value in its signature imagery, it was able to capture the attention of global media organizations, which allowed it to control public conversations for months on end.

Across the three terror groups, their strategies converged on using violence and vulnerability as forms of communication with domestic and international audiences. They expressed their actions as necessities to achieve socio-political goals based on literal interpretations of Islamic scripture.

References

Berger, J. M. (2015, February 4). How isis games twitter. The Atlantic. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/isis-iraq-twitter-social-media-strategy/372856/  

Bockstette, C. (2009). Taliban and Jihadist Terrorist Use of Strategic Communication. Connections, 8(3), 1–24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26326175 

Colleau, M. (2015, July 7). Review – the Hizbullah phenomenon: Politics and communication – vox – pol. Voxpol. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.voxpol.eu/review-the-hizbullah-phenomenon-politics-and-communication/  

Foxley, T. (n.d.). Countering Taliban Information Operations in Afghanistan. National Defense University. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26469079  

Khawaja, A. S., & Khan, A. H. (2016). Media Strategy of ISIS: An Analysis. Strategic Studies, 36(2), 104–121. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48535950 

Maizland, L. (2023, January 19). What is the Taliban? Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan  

Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (n.d.). National Counterterrorism Center: Groups. National Counterterrorism Center. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/hizballah.html  

Pellerin, C. (2016). Communicating terror: An analysis of isis communication … – sciences po. SciencesPO. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.sciencespo.fr/kuwait-program/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/KSP_Paper_Award_Spring_2016_PELLERIN_Clara.pdf  

RAND Corporation. (n.d.). The Islamic State (terrorist organization). RAND Corporation. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.rand.org/topics/the-islamic-state-terrorist-organization.html  

Robinson, K. (2022, May 25). What is Hezbollah? Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hezbollah  

Scurlock, M. (2017, May 1). Defending Damascus, betraying Beirut: Hezbollah’s communication strategies in the Syrian Civil War. The Ohio State University. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/80690  

Stanford University. (n.d.). MMP: Islamic State. Stanford University. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/islamic-state#:~:text=The%20Islamic%20State%20(IS)%20%E2%80%93,a%20global%20Salafi%2DJihadist%20movement.