Israel declared yesterday that Hassan Nasrallah, the influential head of the military and political organization Hezbollah in Lebanon, had been murdered by its military strikes in Southern Beirut. In the midst of growing confrontations along the northern frontier with Hezbollah, this development would signal a significant uptick.
An Israeli source declared on Friday that Nasrallah was the target of a massive Israeli military strike on a Beirut area pf Dahiyeh. “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” the Israeli Armed Forces stated in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Nasrallah has been the leader of the militant group sponsored by Iran for the past thirty-two years.
In a statement released on Saturday, Hezbollah acknowledged that the influential leader had passed away. Hezbollah rose to prominence as the most potent Iran-backed armed organization in the region under Hassan Nasrallah’s command. The organization was a powerful political force in Lebanon and possessed a stockpile of ballistic missiles that were trained for use against Israel. Along with fighting in Syria to put an end to groups attempting to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s government, the organized group additionally trains other Iran allies in the area.
Nasrallah referred to Israel as the “Zionist entity” and demanded the emancipation of Jerusalem. Additionally, Nasrallah praised Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 strikes against Israel, calling it a wonderful, courageous operation.
Hezbollah was acting in sympathy with Palestinian people when it launched its current drone and missile attack on northern Israel. Hezbollah has pledged to keep up the war against Israel until Israel pulls out of the Gaza Strip.
Hassan Nasrallah
In 1960, Hassan Nasrallah was born in Lebanon into a low-income Shiite household and grew up in the Karantina neighborhood. After studying theology, he enrolled in the Amal Movement following the start of the conflict in the country. The Movement was an ideological and armed Shia group based in Lebanon with connections to Tehran.
Nasrallah went to one of Shia Islam’s holiest towns, Najaf, in Iraq. After completing his studies at a theological school, he returned to Beirut and joined Amal as an admiral in Beqaa.
Later on, he became part of Hezbollah as a founding member, having joined in 1982, the year the organization was founded. The Israeli assault into Lebanese soils, which started in June, 1982, was the catalyst for the formation of the Hezbollah.
Hezbollah was established to combat Israeli soldiers that were on the march. When Sayyed Abbas Musawi, the group’s previous leader, was assassinated by Israeli troops 10 years later, Nasrallah ascended to the position. It was under his direction that Hezbollah gained fame. It struggled until Israel evacuated its soldiers from Lebanon in May 2000. Nasrallah became a national hero in Lebanon and the Arab countries following Israel’s 2000 disengagement from Lebanese soils. Hezbollah’s official television station and radio carried his messaging.
Nasrallah’s standing was further enhanced in 2006 when he led the organization in a 34-day conflict with Israel. The conflict came to a conclusion with a cease-fire supported by the United Nations. Hezbollah launched missiles at Israeli defenses and border communities to start the confrontation, and then it took some Israeli soldiers’ hostage.
Millions of people around the Arab and Islamic nations admired and revered Nasrallah, who was regarded as a god by his Lebanese supporters. As a mark of honor designating the Shiite cleric’s ancestry back to their sacred figures, Nasrallah is known by the title sayyid. In contrast to the fanatics who controlled Hezbollah following its creation in 1982, during the nation’s civil war, he is a pragmatic. He is an ardent orator who is perceived as an extremist in the United States and most of the Western nations.
Hezbollah attacked Israeli military sites along the border with Lebanon shortly after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, referring to them as a “backup front” for Gaza. During the year-long war, he has made the case in speeches that Israeli troops would have been better off targeting Hamas in Gaza if Hezbollah had not launched cross-border assaults. He maintained that unless there is a cease-fire in Gaza, Hezbollah will not stop attacking Israel.
Despite the sharp increase in hostilities in past fortnight, Nasrallah has remained defiant. In order to enable the resettlement of thousands of people who had been driven from northern Israel, Israel declared the start of the next phase in the fight that aims to drive Hezbollah back across the borderline.
