Kendall Bianchi is a research assistant in the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Articles & Testimony
The group’s online media apparatus strategically wields dream accounts to serve the organizational goals of reinforcing a belief in martyrdom.
Previous research has shown that Sunni jihadist groups regard dreams as revelatory devices and thus consider them a key source of inspiration for their followers. This article broadens the existing literature by demonstrating that a similar phenomenon holds true for a different category of jihadists: the Shia group Lebanese Hezbollah. Using evidence drawn from pro-Hezbollah websites, it examines the ways in which the group’s online media apparatus strategically wields dream accounts to serve the organizational goals of reinforcing a belief in martyrdom...
