Subhi al-Tufayli

Subhi al-Tufayli (Arabic: صبحي الطفيلي; born 1947) is a Lebanese senior Shi'ite cleric and politician who helped found Hezbollah in 1982 and served as its first secretary-general from 1989 until 1991. From a comparatively young age, Tufayli achieved a popular following amongst the Lebanese Shi'ite community, who viewed him as the most learned Shi'ite scholar in the Beqaa Valley.

Al-Tufayli is a Shia Islamist, but is a very vocal critic of Iran and the current Hezbollah leadership. Tufayli's split with Hezbollah arose during the 1990s after the death of co-founder Abbas al-Mousawi, when the faction of Hassan Nasrallah favoured by Iran began to emerge dominant. The main dispute was over Tufayli's insistence on shunning Lebanese politics and instead focus on fighting armed insurgency against Israel, which the Nasrallah faction downplayed. After violent confrontations between Tufayli's followers and Hezbollah members, he was expelled from Hezbollah in 1998.

The cleric has since been active as a fierce opponent of Hezbollah and Iran; and has urged his followers to stand against Iranian hegemony in the region.