New Videogame Developer Appears on the Middle East Scene

A new videogame depicting the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has been released in the Middle East – developed by Hezbollah.

Called Special Force 2, the game puts players in the role of a Hezbollah Mujahid fighting the Israeli Defense Forces in southern Lebanon. Players score points and accumulate new weapons by killing Israeli soldiers. The game was designed by Hezbollah computer experts.

“This game presents the culture of resistance to children: That occupation must be resisted and that land and the nation must be guarded,” said Hezbollah media official Sheikh Ali Daher. “Through this game the child can build an idea of some of … the most prominent battles and the idea that this enemy can be defeated.”

He said the game forces players to allocate resources wisely, and reflects Hezbollah tactics. “The features which are the secret of the resistance’s victory in the south, have moved to this game so that the child can understand that fighting the enemy does not only require the gun,” Daher said. “It requires readiness, supplies, armament, attentiveness, tactics.”

In July 2006, Hezbollah fighters captured two Israeli soldiers patrolling the Israel-Lebanon border, sparking a 34-day conflict which killed over 150 Israelis, mostly soldiers, and 1200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, extensively damaged Lebanon’s infrastructure and displaced nearly a million Lebanese citizens. Hezbollah claimed the conflict was a “divine victory.”

Special Force 2 is selling for about $10 in Lebanon, and hundreds of copies have already been pre-ordered.