Hezbollah and related graphics
[ by Charles Cameron — insights into symbolism on both sides of the Syrian conflict, including Nasrallah as Dajjal and Pinocchio, Star Trek darkness, more ]
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I thought it might be instructive to compare the Hezbollah flag:
with a couple of variants seen recently:
The version on the left is captioned Syrian opposition activists re-imagining Hezbollah’s logo after absorbing heavy losses in Qusayr. The one on the right is from another image mocking Hezbollah, this one picturing Nasrollah as the Dajjal.
Note that in the second image, the gun is pointing down — in a sort of “shoot your own foot” gesture, perhaps?
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That second image, with the gun reversed, comes from a portrayal of Nasrallah as the Dajjal (below, left) — the one-eyed figure in Muslim apocalyptic serving roughly the same function as the Antichrist in Christian eschatology (depicted in a popular book cover,found by J-P Filiu, below, right):
Not also the tire substituting for Nasrallah’s black turban.
This image of Nasrallah is itself a variant on this one, also portraying him as the Dajjal:
but without the vampiric attributes and tire-turban of the other version.
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These guys are quick, incidentally — see how fast Nasrallah appeared in StarTrek guise…
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Here are a couple more variants on the Hezbollah flag:
I’m intrigued by the Pinocchio image, which — if I’m not mistaken — features the tire-turban once again:
It was lying that made Pinocchio’s nose extend itself, and just as the Devil in Christianity is “the Father of Lies” (John 8.44), so in Islam the term al-Dajjal means “the Deceiver”. And see how the gun has turned into a Serpent, complete with forked tongue?
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Finally, Phillip Smyth has been posting a series titled Hizballah Cavalcade at Aaron Zelin‘s Jihadology blog, and a couple of details caught my eye in what Smyth terms the “official Hizballah martyrdom posters” for Ashraf Hasan ‘Ayyad and Musen Samir Birro.
As you can see, each of these posters features the Hezbollah emblem on dog-tags, a soldier’s helmet with poppies growing from it, the outline of a white dove, silhouette of a soldier with rifle raised, and the glint of the sun behind it.
If anyone has a detailed exegesis of this cluster of images to offer, I’d be most interested.
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Hat tips to Mr Orange for pointing me to the Nasrallah Dajjal graphics, and to Aaron Zelin for Jihadology…
