Dr. Iftah Burman

Bar-Ilan University

Bio

Iftah Burman, PhD, is a scholar-practitioner specializing in hybrid armed groups, political violence, and illicit finance in the Middle East. He completed his doctorate at Bar-Ilan University, focusing on Hezbollah’s strategic evolution and Syrian connections. His research appears in Middle East Policy, Israel Affairs, and policy publications with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. An IDF reserve intelligence officer, he is also the founder of MELA, delivering geopolitical briefings to international security practitioners.

The Assassin’s Veto: Hezbollah’s Strategic Use of Political Violence to Safeguard Military Autonomy (2005 – 2026)

Abstract

This paper examines Hezbollah’s integration into Lebanon’s political system while retaining calibrated political violence from the 2005 Syrian withdrawal through the post-October 2023 regional conflict. Operating simultaneously as an institutional political party and an autonomous paramilitary apparatus, Hezbollah expanded domestic hegemony through political veto power enforced by the use of the 'Resistance Weapons'. By demonstrating Hezbollah's political evolution as an armed veto player, the paper challenges classic transition paradigms regarding armed group political integration.