Hezbollah has a Foreign Relations Unit () and maintains relations with a number of foreign countries and entities. These are particularly Shia states, but also Sunni groups like those affiliated with the Palestinian cause; and the group is also suggested to have operations outside the Middle East in places such as Latin AmericaHa'aretz 14 August 2008, UN: We've cleared half the cluster bombs Israel dropped on Lebanon By Shlomo Shamir and North Korea.

Hezbollah has especially close relations with Iran, with the former Alawite leadership in Syria, specifically with President Hafez al-Assad (until his death in 2000) and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad (until he was otherthrown in 2024), and has sent fighters in support of Assad in the Syrian Civil War. Hezbollah declared its support for the now-concluded Al-Aqsa Intifada.

There is little evidence of ongoing Hezbollah contact or cooperation with al-Qaeda.Tehran, Washington, And Terror: No Agreement To Differ by A. W. Samii, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Volume 6, No. 3, September 2002 – citing Al-Majallah, 24 – 30 March 2002 and Al-Watan 19 March 2002 Hezbollah's leaders deny links to al-Qaeda, present or past. Al-Qaeda leaders, such as former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, consider Shia, which most Hezbollah members are, to be apostates, as do Salafi-jihadis today.Jerusalem Post, 5 August 2006 Saudi religious leader blasts Hizbullah Accessed 6 August 2006

The 9/11 Commission Report, however, found that several al-Qaeda operatives and top military commanders were sent to Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon in 1994.9/11 Commission Report p. 85 – citing U.S. intelligence reports

Position of the UN UN Security Council Resolution 1559, calls for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia", echoing the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese Civil War, but does not explicitly include HezbollahUnited Nations 24 July 2006 Press Encounter with the Secretary-General at the Security Council Stakeout Accessed 5 August 2006United Nations, 17 October 2005 Highlights of the Spokesman's Noon Briefing Accessed 5 August 2006 although Kofi Annan has advanced this interpretation.United Nations, 22 July 2006 US and UN share broad long-range objectives on Middle East – Annan Accessed 5 August 2006United Nations, 26 October 2005 S/2005/673 Letter dated 26 October 2005 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council Accessed 5 August 2006 The Lebanese Government and Hezbollah dispute the application of this resolution to Hezbollah, referring to it as a "resistance movement" and not a militia. Israel has lodged complaints about Hezbollah's actions with the UN.

The UN's Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch Brown, contests characterisations of the Lebanese militia as a terrorist organisation in the mould of al-Qaeda. While acknowledging that "Hezbollah employs terrorist tactics," he says that it is unhelpful to call it a terrorist organization; the United States and the international community, in his view, would do well to respect it as a legitimate political party. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some in the United Nations who deny that Hezbollah's military activities against civilians are terrorist in nature at all.Bayefsky, Anne. "Kofi Annan to Hizbullah's rescue?" Editorial. Jerusalem Post. 8 August 2006. 23 December 2006.OHCHR UN Biography Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr

Iran

In a 20 July 2006 article, scholar Fred Halliday wrote that Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of Hezbollah under Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told him Hezbollah follows Iran's leadership as a matter of principle.

Syria

In an interview on Al-Arabiya TV in Dubai, former Hezbollah Secretary-General Subhi al-Tufayli said: "Hezbollah definitely fosters its relations with the Syrians, but Hezbollah's real leadership is 'the rule of the jurists'."

Though Hezbollah presence in Syria was limited before 2012, Damascus had been the most important facilitator of Iranian support to the group and became increasingly active as a provider of material and political assistance on its own in the 2000s.

Beginning in 2012, Hezbollah aided the Ba'athist Syrian government during the Syrian Civil War in the fight against the rebels, which Hezbollah has described as a Wahhabi-Zionist conspiracy to destroy its alliance with Syria against Israel.

Hezbollah's co-operation Syria ended in 2024 when the Assad regime was overthrown.

Relationships to other Islamic movements

Hamas According to Israeli author Ehud Yaari, Hezbollah's presence and strategy in Lebanon is a model for Hamas in terms of military, political, and media operations. The two groups share common tactics and common goals. According to Israeli military analysts, Hezbollah has assisted Hamas in producing "[more] lethal bombs." After the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, Hezbollah's leader Nasrallah declared his organization's support for the intifada supported by the PLO, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other organizations. Hezbollah began also to broadcast "continuous" anti-Israeli propaganda into Palestinian homes on its al-Manar television station, a tactic that reportedly led to the Hezbollah station becoming widely watched in Palestinian homes.

In 2013, it was reported that Hezbollah had ordered Hamas to leave Lebanon, on account of Hamas' support for forces fighting against the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad. Both Hamas and the Lebanese Islamic Jihad denied these reports.

Islamic Courts Union The United Nations reported that the Islamic Courts Union, which had taken over much of Somalia during 2006, had sent its troops to fight the Israeli Defense Forces alongside Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War. The UN claimed that Hezbollah had repaid the ICU by offering military training and weaponry from Iran and Syria. Of the 700 fighters the ICU reportedly sent, several hundred remained in Lebanon for special training. An arms monitoring report allegedly Hezbollah had armed the ICU with "...anti-aircraft missiles, grenade launchers, machine guns, ammunition, medicine, uniforms and other supplies". The Israelis claimed that they "were aware" of a ICU presence in Lebanon, though the ICU described the reports as "baseless propaganda" and Hezbollah rejected them as "incorrect and silly".

Alleged relationship with al-Qaeda There is no concrete evidence of Hezbollah contact or cooperation with al-Qaida. US and Israeli counter-terrorism officials claim that Hezbollah has (or had) links to Al Qaeda, although Hezbollah's leaders deny these allegations.Stinson, Jeffrey. "Minister: Hezbollah doesn't need al-Qaeda's help fighting Israel in Lebanon." USA Today. 28 July 2006. 17 February 2006. United States intelligence officials also speculate there has been contact between Hezbollah and low-level al-Qaeda figures who fled Afghanistan for Lebanon.Multiple sources:

Ali Mohamed testified that Hezbollah trained al-Qaeda operatives on how to use explosives.Priest, Dana and Douglas Farah. "Terror Alliance Has U.S. Worried." Washington Post. 30 June 2002. 18 September 2006. In addition, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda cooperate through money laundering, smuggling, and document forgeries. Some American newspapers have suggested a broader alliance between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.Multiple sources:

Al-Qaeda leaders, such as former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, consider Shia, which most Hezbollah members are, to be apostates, as do Salafi-jihadis today.

On the other hand, others point out that al-Qaeda's Sunni ideology is fundamentally incompatible with Hezbollah's relatively liberal brand of Shia Islam; in fact, some Wahhabi leaders and al-Qaeda members consider Hezbollah to be apostate. There was a fatwa issued several years ago by Abdullah Ibn Jibreen, a former member of Saudi Arabia's Council of Senior Ulema, which describes Hezbollah as "rafidhi" – a derogatory term for Shiites used by some Sunni fanatics. Even during 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict it was cited by some hardline Sunni Muslim clerics and others writing on Islamist website.

Al-Qaeda has demonstrated its distaste for Shi'as in suicide bombings and attacks on Shi'a civilian targets in Iraq. Hezbollah denies any ties to al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has issued an audio recording in which he called Hezbollah an "enemy of Sunnis." Saint Petersburg Times, ABC News, and MSNBC report that there exists no evidence of a connection between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.Jane's World Insurgency and Terrorism.Group Profile: Hizbullah Accessed 28 July 2006Multiple sources: Saint Petersburg Times: (mirror by ABC News ) NBC News: Nasrallah has denied links to al-Qaeda, present or past, stating in a 2002 interview that the two groups work in different areas and face different enemies. Hezbollah's aim has been to confront, and ultimately destroy, Israel, while bin Laden has focused on Afghanistan, Bosnia, and the former Yugoslavia.

Michel Samaha, Lebanon's former minister of information, has said that Hezbollah has been an important ally of the government in the war against terrorist groups, and described the "American attempt to link Hezbollah to al-Qaeda" to be "astonishing".

As part of a surge of intersectarian support for Hezbollah during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's deputy leader, called for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Zionists and join the fighting in Lebanon.CNN, 27 July 2006 Al Qaeda: War with Zionists is 'jihad' Accessed 29 July 2006

Hezbollah is also fighting against the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front, later became Tahrir al-Sham Syrian rebel group in the Syrian Civil War on the same side as Assad's pro-government forces.

al-Mahdi Army Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting the United States. On 2 April 2004, Iraqi cleric and Mahdi Army founder Muqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq, "[Moktada al-Sadr] announced that he was opening Iraqi chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas" and Mahdi senior member Abu Mujtaba claimed they were choosing 1,500 fighters to go to Lebanon.Iraqi Shi'ite militia ready to join fight Sharon Behn, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 24 July 2006

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement There have been American claims that Hezbollah has engaged in joint operations with the Sunni9/11 Commission Statement of Mark Gasiorowski 9 July 2003 Accessed 8 August 2006 Palestinian militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. The Islamic Jihad Movement has sent "its gratitude to the brothers in Hezbollah, the Islamic resistance in South Lebanon. Particularly Hassan Nasrallah, for their stance and support, be it financial, military or moral support".

Other non-state allies Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas Liwa al-Quds Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Kata'ib Hezbollah Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba Liwa Fatemiyoun Liwq Zulfiqar Baqir Brigade Polisario Front (Alleged, denied by Hezbollah) Plurinational Association of Tawantinsuyo Reservists (Alleged, denied by Hezbollah) Wagner Group

Europe European Union In July 2013, the European Union designated the armed wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The foreign ministers of all 28 EU countries agreed to the decision which was based on concerns over Hezbollah's role in the 2012 Burgas bus bombing and the organizations involvement in Syrian civil war supporting the Ba'ath government.