Rupture and continuity in activism: The paths taken by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters in Syria

This article challenges analyses suggesting that Lebanese Hezbollah fighters unanimously obey the party’s decision to take part in the armed combat in Syria. It instead reveals the diversity of the paths taken by fighters within the party. To do so, it examines, on the one hand, the diversity of the activists’ stances vis-à-vis this decision and, on the other hand, the (re-)enchantments and disenchantments that these fighters associate with armed involvement in Syria. An ethnographic approach during times of war, especially when this war lasts a long time, allows one to avoid the pitfall of “blind consent” and reveals fluctuations in the fighters’ commitment as well as the continuous adaptations that they make between their ideals and wartime reality.