Hezbollah 1985–88 War of the Camps. However, Hezbollah's early primary focus was ending Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon following Israel's 1982 invasion and siege of Beirut. Amal, the main Lebanese Shia political group, initiated guerrilla warfare. In 2006, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak stated, "When we entered Lebanon … there was no Hezbollah. We were accepted with perfumed rice and flowers by the Shia in the south. It was our presence there that created Hezbollah". Hezbollah waged an asymmetric war using suicide attacks against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli targets outside of Lebanon. Hezbollah is reputed to have
2012 Cyprus terrorist plot Yaakoub intended to carry out attacks led to his arrest. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the incident as an "attempted terrorist attack by Hezbollah against an Israeli target... conducted under Iran's auspices." On March 21, 2013, a three-judge panel in Cyprus convicted Yaakoub on five of eight charges, "including participation in a criminal organization, planning to commit a crime and money laundering." On March 28, the court sentenced Yaakoub to four years in prison. During the sentencing, the judges stated, "There is no doubt these are serious crimes which could have potentially endangered Israeli citizens and targets in the