International reactions to the 2006 Lebanon War 39% disapproved, and 16% were not sure. When asked to think about the events of the past week in the Middle East, 54% of Americans answered that their sympathies are more with Israel, 11% answered more with Arab nations, 11% both, 11% neither, and 13% not sure. In August 2006, University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer accused Israel of using the kidnapping of its soldiers by Hezbollah as an excuse to attack Lebanon and start the 2006 Lebanon War. Mearsheimer stated that "Israel had been planning to strike at Hezbollah for months. Key Israelis had briefed the administration about
Islamic Dawa Party in Lebanon Islamic Dawa Party in Lebanon The Islamic Dawa Party in Lebanon(Arabic حزب الدعوة الإسلامية "Ḥizb al Daʿwa al-Islāmiyya") was an Islamist Shia party in Lebanon. A twin party of the larger Islamic Dawa Party of Iraq, it was founded by Najaf-educated Shia clerics returning to Lebanon. Its spiritual guide was Shiekh Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. Like its Iraqi twin, Dawa was said to "emphasize extreme secrecy and underground activity, in alignment with traditional Shi'i doctrine of protecting the community against persecution." The attack was thought to be in retaliation for France's granting sanctuary to deposed Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr against