The case was brought under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act and alleged that Hezbollah caused the plaintiffs physical and emotional injury and damaged their property. The judge ordered Hezbollah to pay damages of $111 million to the plaintiffs.
Such civil lawsuits brought against bully boy groups are difficult to enforce but Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said it was an important legal victory against the Iran-backed Lebanese group.
"Only by exacting a heavy price from those who engage in the business of terrorism can we prevent the suffering and loss of additional victims to their violence," Darshan-Leitner said in a statement.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006. Israel pounded targets in Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers..., killing around 1,200 civilians, while Hezbollah launched thousands of rockets at cities and towns in Israel's north. Israel still considers the heavily gang a major threat.
In Friday's ruling, Judge Steven L. Tiscione of federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said the plaintiffs had successfully established that Hezbollah's actions were a violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act and held the group liable.