Hassan Nasrallah, a Shiite cleric and leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, was one of the most well-known and influential political-military figures in the Middle East region.
Hassan Nasrallah had not been seen in public for years due to the fear of being assassinated by Israel. On Saturday, the Israeli army announced that they had killed Nasrallah in an attack on Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
The Hezbollah group did not comment on this for several hours; But after the morning of Saturday, they confirmed that he was killed. Nasrallah had close personal relations with Iran and had played a key role in transforming Hezbollah into a political and military force today.
He still had special respect among the supporters of the group. Under Nasrallah’s leadership, the Hezbollah group cooperated in training Hamas fighters as well as militias in Iraq and Yemen.
This group also facilitated the transfer of missiles and rockets from Iran to be used against Israel to the Hamas group.
Nasrallah transformed the Hezbollah group from a militia group to a military force
Nasrallah transformed the Hezbollah group from a militia group established to fight the Israeli forces in Lebanon, to a military force that is stronger than the Lebanese army and more powerful in the country’s politics.
Born in 1960, Hassan Nasrallah grew up in the Hammoud East Tower area in Beirut. His father Abdul Karim owned a small vegetable shop in this area. He was the eldest of nine children in this family. After the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, he joined the Amal movement, which was a Shiite militia group at the time.
After a short period in the Iraqi city of Najaf to study at a Shia seminary, he rejoined Amal in Lebanon; But he left this group in 1982, sometime after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The Amal group, which was created by Moussa al-Sadr, had significant military support from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In 1985, Hezbollah officially announced its presence by publishing an “open letter”. In this letter, Hezbollah identified America and the Soviet Union as the main enemies of Islam and demanded the “destruction” of Israel.
With the expansion of the Hezbollah group in various positions, Hassan Nasrallah finally became the leader of Hezbollah in 1992
With the expansion of the Hezbollah group in various positions, Hassan Nasrallah finally became the leader of Hezbollah in 1992 at the age of 32 after the assassination of Abbas al-Mousavi in an Israeli airstrike.
One of his first actions was to avenge Mousavi’s murder. Nasrallah ordered the launch of rocket attacks on northern Israel, which resulted in the death of a girl. An Israeli security officer at the Israeli embassy in Turkey was also killed by a car bomb explosion. As a result of another suicide attack on the Israeli embassy in Argentina, at least 29 people were killed.
Hassan Nasrallah also managed a battle with Israeli forces that ended with their withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Hassan Nasrallah said that Hezbollah will not be disarmed and stressed: “All Lebanese lands must be recaptured.” In 2006, Hezbollah forces carried out a border attack in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed. Two other soldiers were taken hostage by Hezbollah forces. In response to this action by Hezbollah, Israeli warplanes bombarded Hezbollah positions in the south and southern suburbs of Beirut.
Hezbollah also fired about 4,000 rockets at Israel. In this conflict, more than 1,115 Lebanese citizens, most of whom were civilians, had lost their lives. Also, 119 Israeli soldiers and 45 civilians were killed.
Nasrallah’s house and offices were targeted by Israeli airstrikes several times. But he survived. In 2009, Hassan Nasrallah initiated a new political process that sought to highlight Hezbollah’s “political vision”.
Four years later, he announced that Hezbollah had entered a “whole new phase” by sending fighters to Syria to help its ally Iran.
However, Sunni Lebanese leaders have accused Hezbollah of dragging the country into the Syrian war, and sectarian tensions have worsened. On October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked Israel, which led to the war in Gaza, previously sporadic clashes between Hezbollah and Israel escalated.
Amal movement described Hezbollah leader as “a unique and courageous figure”
In his last speech, Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of blowing up thousands of pagers and radio devices used by members of the group under his command. These explosions killed 39 people and injured thousands more. The leader of Hezbollah warned that he will take revenge on Israel for these attacks.
However, sometime later, Israel greatly increased its attacks on Hezbollah and nearly 800 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.
Finally, today, the Israeli army announced that it had killed Hassan Nasrallah in its new air attacks on Beirut — the attack against the Lebanese Hezbollah in the last few years of this country is considered unprecedented.
Lebanon’s Amal Movement, Hezbollah’s political ally in a statement described the Hezbollah leader as “a unique and courageous figure”. His death would not weaken the resolve of the resistance fighters, the statement said, referring to the death of Nasrullah.
