I was born as a Shia Muslim in South Lebanon by the name of Ibrahim Yassin. During my previous life, Lebanon was the “playground” of the Middle East, much like Syria is today.

I was harassed on a daily basis by the Palestinian organizations that controlled the area I was living in because I was a Shia Muslim, so when the Israelis came I was happy because they restored order in my village.

I wanted to have a quiet village and a normal life that would be free from violence, so I decided to help provide the Israelis with information about insurgent activity in my village — a decision that would come to change my life dramatically.

In 1985 I was kidnapped by Hezbollah and I was locked in an underground bunker for an entire year. Take your worst nightmare, multiply it by 1,000 and you still won’t get to where I was. I handled the beating, the starvation and the torture, but nothing could have prepared me for their heinous crime of burning my nine-month-old baby son in front of my eyes. I felt that surely my life had come to an end.

After a year in the bunker they released me believing that I had become a true believer in Hezbollah’s cause. I knew from the moment I was released that I would fight back against this cruel organization. I was determined to rid my country of Hezbollah so we could be free, and so no other child would ever be burned in front