Hezbollah Resistance Museum in Mleeta, Lebanon

The Hezbollah Resistance Museum or the Tourist Landmark of the Resistance , as it is officially known, is an open air war museum created by the Islamic militant organization Hezbollah to commemorate the battles they fought against the Israeli troops in and around the site the museum occupies today. The museum is located in the Southern Lebanese city of Mlita, 50 kilometers north of the Palestinian-Lebanese border. Mleeta was one of the most important sites of the Lebanese resistance. Between 1982 to 2000, this region was hotly contested between Hezbollah's forces and the Israeli military, eventually leading to the retreat of the latter from Lebanon. The bizarre theme park-cum-propaganda center, which was opened in 2010, covers some 60,000 square meters of undulating outdoor paths and wooded areas, and another 5,000 square meters in buildings. Photo credit Tours are led by guides who begin by welcoming tourists to "the land of resistance, purity and jihad." The guides emphasize the view of Hezbollah being the sole defenders of Lebanon against Israel, and mainly responsible for the Israeli withdrawal that came eighteen years after Israel's second invasion of Lebanon in 1982. They also maintain that Hezbollah's involvement is defensive: "If the Israelis don't attack us, we won't attack them. We are not terrorists, we are very peaceful people and we have the right to live like any other nations." Visitors are then shown a welcome speech on video, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks: "We hope this tourist jihadi center will be a first step toward preserving the history of our heroic resistance." Another film is shown, about the Lebanese-Israeli conflict that ends with a speech by Nasrallah and a "sober pronouncement" by the assassinated Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi that "Israel has fallen".