{"id":15747,"date":"2013-06-07T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/as-it-fights-in-syria-hezbollah-seen-unfavorably-in-region\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:30:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:30:50","slug":"as-it-fights-in-syria-hezbollah-seen-unfavorably-in-region","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/07\/as-it-fights-in-syria-hezbollah-seen-unfavorably-in-region\/","title":{"rendered":"As It Fights in Syria, Hezbollah Seen Unfavorably in Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

The announcement in late May by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that the Lebanese militant group would join in the fighting<\/a> in Syria on the side of its president, Bashar al-Assad, sent fears through the Middle East that the conflict would spill over<\/a> into other countries.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Those fears had existed even before Nasrallah spoke. A Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted in March found deep concerns in the region about the spread of violence, particularly in the two countries that share a border with Syria \u2013 Lebanon and Jordan. About two-thirds (68%) in Lebanon said they were very concerned about the possibility and another 27% said they were somewhat concerned. Six-in-ten or more of all Lebanon\u2019s major religious groups \u2013 Shias, Sunnis and Christians \u2013 described themselves as very concerned.<\/p>\n\n

In Jordan, 46% of the public was very concerned and another 34% were somewhat concerned.<\/p>\n\n

Hezbollah\u2019s constituency is Lebanon\u2019s Shia population and the group depends on the financial backing of Iran, another Syrian ally, and on Syria itself which has provided a pipeline for Iranian support and has long been involved in Lebanon\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Hezbollah is widely unpopular in the region, according to the March survey. Israel has the most negative view with 92% of its public seeing Hezbollah unfavorably, but solid majorities in several nearby predominantly Muslim countries also see Hezbollah unfavorably: Egypt (75%), Turkey (73%), Jordan (72%) and Lebanon (59%).<\/p>\n\n

Views are mixed in the Palestinian territories where 49% have an unfavorable view of Hezbollah while 43% have a positive one. Views of Hezbollah in the Palestinian territories have turned significantly more negative since 2011 when 61% saw the militant group positively and 37% had an unfavorable view.<\/p>\n\n

In Tunisia, 38% have an unfavorable view of Hezbollah and 35% have a positive one, with 27% expressing no opinion.<\/p>\n\n

Within Lebanon, which presumably has the most at stake in the possible spread of the Syrian conflict, opinion is divided among the three largest religious groups. About nine-in-ten Shia (89%) see Hezbollah favorably while 94% of Sunnis \u2013 whose sympathies in the Middle East tend to reside with the Syrian rebels \u2013 regard Hezbollah unfavorably. Six-in-ten of the Christian population have an unfavorable view of Hezbollah. (Shias and Sunnis each comprise about 27% of the population, while Christians account for 41%).<\/p>\n\n

Here are more detailed results and survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hezbollah is widely unpopular among publics in the Middle East. Most in Lebanon, which is Hezbollah’s base, have an unfavorable view of it, but opinions differ among religious groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[428,98],"bylines":[859],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[514,510],"research-teams":[],"class_list":["post-15747","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-war-international-conflict-2","category-war-international-conflict-1","bylines-bruce-drake","formats-short-read","regions-countries-international","regions-countries-middle-east-north-africa"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":365,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/07\/as-it-fights-in-syria-hezbollah-seen-unfavorably-in-region\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"As It Fights in Syria, Hezbollah Seen Unfavorably in Region","description":"Hezbollah is widely unpopular among publics in the Middle East. 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