Subhi al-Tufayli

Subhi al-Tufayli صبحي الطفيلي
Secretary-General of Hezbollah
In office 1983–1984
Preceded by	Ragheb Harb
Succeeded by	Abbas al Musawi
Personal details
Born	1948
Nationality	Lebanese
Religion	Shi'a, Islam

Subhi al-Tufayli (صبحي الطفيلي) (born 1948) was the first Secretary-General or leader of Hezbollah for an year. Al-Tufayli is a Shia Islamist, but is a very vocal critic of Iran and the current Hezbollah leadership. He has been an active member of the Lebanese movement Amal Movement, and maintains his support of the organization. It has been alleged that Tufayli is funded by Saudi Arabia as an alternative to Hezbollah.

Al-Tufayli spent nine years studying theology in the city of Najaf, Iraq, during the Saddam Hussein era, where he met other Islamist clerics, and he was influenced by Lebanese cleric Musa al-Sadr. Returning to Lebanon, al-Tufayli joined with Abbas al-Musawi to help found the Hezbollah movement/militia in the Beqaa Valley in 1982. Beqaa is one of Hezbollah's three main regions of support in Lebanon.

Al-Tufayli was spokesman for Hezbollah between 1985 and 1989, and then the first Secretary-General of Hezbollah from 1983 until 1984.

In 1984 al-Tufayli was replaced by Abbas al-Musawi as head of Hezbollah. Hezbollah's hostage-taking campaign had wound down since the "Kuwait 17" bombers of the 1983 Kuwait bombings who were linked to leading Hezbollah members were now free, and the Taif Agreement had essentially ended the Civil War in Lebanon. Some say, al-Tufayli also opposed Hezbollah's participation in Lebanese national elections and its "moderation" toward the Lebanese state. Al-Tufayli himself however stated that the internal split in Hezbollah was caused by Iran's take over of Hezbollah from the original Lebanese leadership, and Iran's opposition to tactics under his leadership of violence against Israel and a demand to the end of the state of Israel; al Tufayli stated explicitly that Iran wanted to use Hezbollah as a "border guard" for Israel.

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