Today I saw a posting by ISIO ISIO on LinkedIn about the possibility of Shia terrorists carrying out suicide bombing, i.e. Istishhad (suicide bombers and suicide attack shock troops).
In the posting, ISIO wrote:
“We have no choice but to consider Istishhad (suicide bombers) seeing that it has just been recently called for by the Secretary General of Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades – Abu Hussein al-Hamidawy.
Intifada means the globalization of Islamization. First Jerusalem and then the rest of the world.”
Yes, it is a possibility that the Shia Hezbollah Brigades will want to implement suicide bombing (and suicide attack shock troops) as a weapon and a tactic, but it’s also possible that it will not happen. The overall Shia consensus might not specifically support suicide bombing, anyway.
(About suicide attack shock troops, related in concept, I remember when Iran sent men and boys to go across minefields to intentionally detonate mines for the sake of their army, their government and their religion during the Iran-Iraq War.)
Ironically, the first real Islamic suicide (including Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices [VBIED]) bombings were carried out and innovated by Shia terrorists, using religious justifications and motivations, with heavenly rewards for the bombers, the so-called martyrs. Think back to Lebanon and the Marine and French barracks bombings and the American embassy in Beirut in 1983. After that, with the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, for example, Hezbollah carried out several suicide car bombings for years. Today? Not so much.
The Shia suicide bombing weapon/method has ironically been adapted wholeheartedly by Sunni Islamist terrorists; it has become more of a Sunni thing, where Shia people, Shia events and holidays, and Shia places of worship have become popular targets for Sunni suicide bombers throughout the Muslim world.
on October 24, 1983. (Zouki / AP)
Although Hamas is Sunni, it is intrinsically tied to Shia Iran as a proxy force, and it used to carry out numerous suicide bombing attacks on both Israeli civilians and security forces– the security wall in Israel helped stop suicide bombing attacks. But Hamas appears not to be using suicide bombings as a tactic in recent years, even in the Gaza War, for whatever reason.
One particular Sunni suicide bombing attack that comes to mind, is the Shia shrine and worshippers that is the 2003 Imam Ali Shrine bombing in Iraq. I had a journalist friend who visited the site immediately after the attack. (He told me he saw someone pick up a grey beard on flesh from the destruction, held it out, saying that they thought it belonged to Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who was killed in the attack.) Initially, the Shia community thought the attack was carried out by pro-Saddam Ba’athists, but it turned out to be an al-Qaeda operation, using two car bombs.
Again, it seems the Shia have more or less moved away from using suicide bombers. The recent conflict in Lebanon, when the IDF moved into the country, facing off with Hezbollah and its allies, “based on available reports, there have been no widely reported or confirmed suicide bomber attacks by Hezbollah against Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers.”
As an aside, I knew an Israeli who survived a Hezbollah suicide attack in South Lebanon back in the 80s when the IDF occupied the area. What saved him and his men was situational awareness, gut instinct, luck and the hand of God. He said that he and three other men were travelling in a Jeep. He was driving. A civilian car was travelling down the opposite side of the road with a lone driver. They got close enough that he claims he could see something in the driver’s eyes, and he had a gut feeling. He didn’t know what made him do what he did, but he suddenly shouted for his comrades to jump out of the Jeep. They all jumped out and went for cover, and the civilian car blew up. He and none of his men were injured. The Jeep was damaged. Always go with your gut, I guess.
I remember hearing about one Lebanese Shia cleric who, not long after the US embassy bombing in 1983, had said something along the lines that suicide bombings are not really an Islamic thing. This might be indicative that already there was Shia division in the early days over the use of suicide bombing attacks.
Nonetheless, if the Secretary General of Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, Abu Hussein al-Hamidawy, did call for considering the use of Istishhad in conflict, it’s possible that the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades will implement it if they deem it necessary. Keep in mind that apparently, Hussein appears to be making a suggestion at this point, as far as I know; it’s not policy yet. That he is throwing this suggestion out there for consideration backs up my point that Shia militants in recent times appear to have moved away from using suicide bombings, perhaps as a policy or possibly even a doctrinal policy.
–RdM
