FACTBOX - What is Hezbollah?

(Reuters) - Following are facts about Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is set to conduct a prisoner exchange with Israel on Wednesday.

HISTORY

* Hezbollah, meaning "Party of God" in Arabic, shares the Shi'ite Islamist ideology of Iran and was set up with the help of Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to fight Israeli forces that had invaded Lebanon. Hezbollah still has strong support from Tehran. It is also backed by Damascus. The group is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States.

* The group fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 that cost 1,200 lives in Lebanon and 159 in Israel. The war was sparked by a July 12 cross-border raid in which Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers. It said it wanted to use them to negotiate a prisoner exchange. Despite U.N. resolutions and an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force, Hezbollah has rearmed since the war.

* Hezbollah claimed victory over Israel in 2000 when its forces withdrew from mainly Shi'ite south Lebanon.

* Shadowy groups linked to Hezbollah launched suicide attacks on Western targets and took Westerners hostage in Beirut in the 1980s. The most spectacular attack was a suicide bombing that destroyed the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut in October 1983, killing 241 servicemen. One group, Islamic Jihad, was thought to be led by Imad Moughniyah, who was Hezbollah's military commander when he was assassinated in Syria on February 13.

HEZBOLLAH TODAY

* It is both a political movement and a guerrilla army. It draws its support from Lebanon's Shi'ite population and has more influence in that community than any other Shi'ite faction.

* Hezbollah entered Lebanese politics more visibly in 2005 after Syrian troops left Lebanon and a coalition of anti-Syrian factions took power following an election which gave Hezbollah 14 seats in the 128-seat parliament.