Islamic Jihad Organization
The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO; French: Organisation du Jihad Islamique (OJI); Arabic: حركة الجهاد الإسلامي, romanized: Ḥarakat al-Jihād al-'Islāmiyy, lit. 'Islamic Jihad Movement'), was a Lebanese Shia militia known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War.
| Islamic Jihad Organization | |
|---|---|
| Leaders | Imad Mughniyeh |
| Dates of operation | early 1983–1992 |
| Headquarters | Beirut, Baalbek |
| Size | 400 fighters |
| Allies | Islamic Revolutionary Guards Hezbollah Amal Movement Islamic Dawa Party |
| Opponents | Israel Defense Forces (IDF) South Lebanon Army (SLA) Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) |
| Battles and wars | Lebanese civil war (1975–1990) |
The organization, advocating for the withdrawal of all Americans from Lebanon, claimed responsibility for a number of kidnappings, assassinations, and bombings of embassies and peacekeeping troops which killed several hundred people. Their deadliest attacks were in 1983, when they carried out the bombing of the barracks of French and U.S. MNF peacekeeping troops, and that of the United States embassy in Beirut.
The group was closely linked with Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Islam and reportedly financed by Iran. It also maintained close ties with Hezbollah. Adam Shatz described Islamic Jihad as "a precursor to Hezbollah, which did not yet officially exist" at the time of the bombing it took credit for.