AEL was founded and is led by Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Lebanese-born Shi'a Muslim living in Belgium. Jahjah, a former member of Hizbullah, left Lebanon in 1991 to begin university studies in Belgium. In July 2006, Abou Jahjah went to Lebanon to join the battle against the Israeli Defense Forces, as he felt he had the duty to protect his people. Before he left for Lebanon, he wrote a farewell message on the Arab European League website : Source:http://www.arabeuropean.org/