According to
Robert Fisk[97] and Israeli General Shimon Shapira
[98] the date of 8 June 1982, two days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when 50
Shiite militants ambushed an
Israel Defense Forces armored convoy in
Khalde south of Beirut, is considered by Hezbollah as the founding myth of the
Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, the group's
military wing. It was in this battle, delaying the Israeli advance to Beirut for six days, that the future Hezbollah military chief
Mustafa Badreddine made his name as a serious commander.
[99] According to Shapira, the lightly armed Shia fighters managed to capture an Israeli armored vehicle on that day and paraded it in the Revolutionary Guards'
forward operating base in
Baalbek, Eastern Lebanon. Fisk writes:
Down at Khalde, a remarkable phenomenon had taken shape. The Shia militiamen were running on foot into the Israeli gunfire to launch grenades at the Israeli armour, actually moving to within 20 feet of the tanks to open fire at them. Some of the Shia fighters had torn off pieces of their shirts and wrapped them around their heads as bands of martyrdom as the
Iranian revolutionary guards had begun doing a year before when they staged their first mass attacks against the
Iraqis in the
Gulf War a thousand miles to the east. When they set fire to one Israeli armoured vehicle, the gunmen were emboldened to advance further. None of us, I think, realised the critical importance of the events of Khalde that night. The Lebanese Shia were learning the principles of martyrdom and putting them into practice. Never before had we seen these men wear headbands like this; we thought it was another militia affectation but it was not. It was the beginning of a legend which also contained a strong element of truth. The Shia were now the Lebanese resistance, nationalist no doubt but also inspired by their religion. The party of God – in Arabic, the Hezbollah – were on the beaches of Khalde that night.
[97]
