Who was Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah chief killed in Israel strike on Lebanon? 5 things to know about him
The Israeli military confirmed that several senior Hezbollah leaders were killed alongside Hassan Nasrallah in a targeted airstrike on Friday.
Israel announced on Saturday that it had killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, marking a significant blow to the Lebanese militant group after months of escalating conflict. Hezbollah has not yet confirmed Nasrallah's death.
The Israeli army's chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said on Saturday that the targeted killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah does not mark the end of their military options. “This is not the end of our toolbox. The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel - we will know how to reach them,” Halevi said, according to Reuters.
Follow live updates on Israel-Hezbollah conflict
Nasrallah, a key figure in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, became the most prominent casualty in the recent escalation. Earlier reports indicated that Nasrallah's daughter, Zainab, was also killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut on Friday.
The Israeli military confirmed that several senior Hezbollah leaders were killed alongside Nasrallah in a targeted airstrike on Friday. The operation was described as precise, taking place while Hezbollah’s leadership was meeting at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut.
Five things to know about Hassan Nasrallah
- Under Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah engaged in multiple conflicts with Israel and played a significant role in the Syrian Civil War, helping to strengthen President Bashar Assad's position. Nasrallah developed strong alliances with Iranian Shiite leaders and groups like Hamas, positioning Hezbollah as Israel's key adversary.
- Born in 1960, Nasrallah came from a poor Shiite family in Beirut. He joined the Amal movement before co-founding Hezbollah in 1982. Nasrallah became Hezbollah's leader in 1992 after the assassination of his predecessor, Sayyed Abbas Musawi. Hezbollah was established by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who came to Lebanon to resist the Israeli invasion. It became the first organisation supported by Iran, which used it as a vehicle to spread its political version of Islam.
- Following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Nasrallah achieved iconic status in Lebanon and across the Arab world, with his messages broadcasted through Hezbollah's radio and satellite TV station. This prominence was solidified in 2006 when Hezbollah managed to reach a stalemate with Israel during the 34-day conflict. When the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Hezbollah fighters quickly aligned themselves with Bashar al-Assad's forces, despite a decline in Hezbollah's popularity as the Arab world largely rejected Assad.
- Despite the initial popularity, Nasrallah’s support of Assad during the Syrian Civil War diminished Hezbollah's reputation among many Arab nations. However, his strategic importance within the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance remained strong.
- Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, Hezbollah has launched attacks on Israeli military positions, positioning its actions as support for Gaza. Nasrallah had issued continued threats to Israel, asserting Hezbollah's involvement in the conflict despite Israeli strikes targeting the group's commanders. In his speeches, he claimed that Hezbollah’s cross-border operations have diverted Israeli forces from focusing on Hamas in Gaza and emphasized that Hezbollah will persist in its attacks on Israel until a cease-fire is established in Gaza.
(With inputs from Associated Press, Reuters)
