- This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.
Hezbollah (ヒズボラ Hizubora), also known as the Protectors of the Islamic Front (イスラム過激派 Isuramu kagekiha) in the English version of the anime, is a militant group and political party in Lebanon. In Black Lagoon, the group had a plan in the mid-1990s to carry out a terrorist attack in the United States of America.
Name difference[]
Although the group in the manga is Hezbollah, the anime changed the group's name and appearance to a generic unnamed Jihadist group due to the controversial subject matter. Whereas the original Japanese version merely refers to the group as "Islamic extremists," the English dub created the name Protectors of the Islamic Front for the group. In the manga, the terrorist group that bombed the U.S. embassy in Zaire is the Islamic Salvation Front, a group independent of Lebanese Hezbollah.[1][2]
Appearance[]
In the manga, members of Hezbollah wear checkered head scarves around their heads and wear light-colored military uniforms. In the anime, the PIF fighters wear wear dark green military uniforms and pants, also wearing balaclavas of various colors, mostly gray and black. Common weaponry among the soldiers are AK-47 rifles.
History[]
In Black Lagoon, Hezbollah has an alliance with Abu Sayyaf, which has a training camp on Basilan Island in the Philippines.[3] Two notable members of the group are Ibraha, a top leader within the group, and Masahiro Takenaka, a Japanese New Left activist and terrorist who fled Japan to the Beqaa Valley[4] in the Middle East and at some point met Ibraha there, eventually becoming a Hezbollah staff member.[5] At the beginning, Ibraha joined the group because the Israeli military killed his infant son in their 1987 raid of an International Red Cross camp in Beirut, Lebanon.[4] Before joining Hezbollah, Ibraha left the PFLP so that he could become a member, later being promoted to operations commander in Hezbollah.[6] Years later when Ibraha had a top position in the group, he devised a plan to launch a bio-chemical attack on a Manhattan subway station as revenge for the United States giving money and weapons to the country that murdered his son.[1]
Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll[]
In Roanapur, Mr. Chang of the Hong Kong Triad's Thai branch asked the Lagoon Company to deliver to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) a briefcase containing documents with information on the future Hezbollah attack. Previously, the Islamic Salvation Front recently bombed the U.S. embassy in Zaire, and coincidentally Chang's office was bombed by Hezbollah. This was because Chang had a Bulgarian spy tortured and the spy gave him intelligence documents relating to Hezbollah's planned attack, which Chang offered to give to Hezbollah's members in Thailand, but the latter refused due to Chang's price. As a result, Hezbollah members bombed Chang's office, but he escaped and decided to give the documents to the CIA instead since they were worried about another terrorist attack like the one in Zaire. To ensure the delivery of the intel, Chang had four units act as decoys to split Hezbollah's attacks while the Lagoon Company carried the real documents.
As Chang talked with Lagoon Company about the details at the latter's office, Hezbollah soldiers attacked the building, so Chang and Revy got into a shootout with the group. Chang successfully fought them off as Revy and the others used a Triad vehicle to get to their boat and escape the soldiers' land pursuit. Elsewhere, Takenaka talked with Ibraha, who informed him that the Triad's other four teams were spotted and would be cut off and slaughtered at Ban Kantang. While relaxing on the motel bed, Takenaka quoted Mao Tse-tung since they had underestimated the Triad's forces as mere gangsters. Although Ibraha disagreed with words from an atheist philosopher, Takenaka reminded him that the former was atheist, to which Ibraha replied that Takenaka was a comrade. Thinking about possible routes, Takenaka used his intuition to correctly guess that Lagoon Company had the documents and would take the sea route into an empty town. Before Takenaka left, Ibraha advised him to be careful since the U.S. FBI was surveilling them, and one wrong move would halt their plan that Ibraha had planned for 2 years.[1]
Three boats belonging to the NPULF, an ally to Hezbollah, chased the Black Lagoon in the Java sea, worrying the Lagoon Company since they were flanked in a net formation by six boats which planned on forcing the PT boat to crash into a freighter ship. At the same time, Ibraha had a meeting with the NPULF leadership about future plans, and a Hezbollah soldier informed Takenaka about the trap and asked if they should kill the enemy. Deducing the Lagoon Company's destination, Takenaka responded that their priority was to secure the documents and kill the pirates afterward. When he ordered the man to have the NPULF maintain their perimeter, Takenaka realized that it was time to leave for his flight to the Philippines, and he departed to the airport. There, a Japanese tourist asked Takenaka for a cigarette light, and to the tourist's surprise, Takenaka guessed that he was Japanese. As the tourist spoke about going on vacation with his child, he smiled and commented that he thought that he had met Takenaka somewhere. Remaining calm, Takenaka got up and smiled back, telling the man that people often mistook him for Yasuo Daichi. Putting on his sunglasses and walking away, Takenaka muttered to himself that people would only recognize him from a wanted poster.[7] Meanwhile, Rock formulated a plan to outwit the enemy's flank with Semtex explosives, successfully destroying 2 of the boats and being able to speed away from the remaining boats.[3]
At night, Revy and Rock disembarked the PT boat onto a smaller raft and sailed to Basilan Island. At the Abu Sayyaf camp there, Takenaka called Ibraha, who was enraged that Takenaka went to the camp since his plan to confront the enemy could possibly jeopardize the terror plan. That morning in the abandoned village in Isabela, Revy and Rock and met up with Takenaka, who pretended to be a Triad affiliate wanting the documents. Revy saw through his charade since Takenaka used the outdated password and got into a shootout with him, but Rock was abducted with the documents and Revy was at least saved by Shenhua. At a secured Abu Sayyaf camp (which was just a PIF camp in the anime), the soldiers held Rock and gunpoint and did not find the documents in his briefcase.[8] Takenaka and Ibraha decided to question Rock, who did not provide any useful information. Although Ibraha was furious at the conversation's lack of progress since Takenaka only spoke sternly about how he had purpose in life unlike Rock, Takenaka told his comrade that they could just kill Rock in the morning if he was still adamant in refusing to confess anything.
Later that night, Revy and Shenhua tracked down the camp and killed multiple guerrillas, and they found Rock. Nearby, Ibraha impatiently argued with Takenaka about who had the documents since the other teams were reported to be decoys. When Takenaka said that they should have heard a report from the enemy about the woman arriving with the documents, both men realized that Revy had returned to attack them. As she exited the house, Revy saw Takenaka with a couple of men and shot at them, prompting him to fall onto the ground and pretend that he was dead. As Rock ran past him, the two Japanese men exchanged one last look, and Takenaka smiled at the tense Rock. Outside the camp, Leigharch drove for the other three in a getaway car as Ibraha ordered all of the camp's men to pursue, irritating Takenaka. Teaming up again, Revy and Shenhua used their skills to crash several of the militants' trucks. As Ibraha drove closer to their car, Takenaka grabbed the wheel and drove them off the road to prevent them from getting killed by Revy's attacks.
On the side of the road, Ibraha angrily radioed the soldiers to continue pursuing, but Takenaka declared that they needed to retreat since they could not win. Ibraha was adamant and tried to prevent Takenaka from using the radio, and the latter retorted by saying that Ibraha was blinded by his infant son's murder as well as Hezbollah's ideals. Consequently, they got into a fight and Takenaka shot Ibraha, killing him. Saddened, Takenaka then ordered the remaining guerrillas to retreat whereas he went back to base, letting Revy and Rock successfully cross the demilitarized zone to give the Hezbollah plan documents to the CIA. It is unknown what the group's present actions are after the "Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll" arc, but Takenaka still considered himself "an enemy of the state."[9]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chapter 16: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 1
- ↑ The name written for the embassy bombing group in Chapter 16 is イスラム救国戦線.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 18: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 21: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 6
- ↑ Chapter 19: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 4
- ↑ Chapter 20: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 5
- ↑ Chapter 17: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 2
- ↑ Episode 11: Lock'n Load Revolution
- ↑ Episode 12: Guerrillas in the Jungle