Born in 1960, Lebanon (which was considered an idyllic and veritable heaven on earth), Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah grew up in a predominantly Armenian Sub-urb known as Bourj Hammoud, near the capital Beirut. After his primary education, he was moved from his native place to Najaf, nearly 1100 kilometres away, as Najaf is famous for Shia Islamic learning and also a major pilgrimage destination for Shia Muslims in Iraq.
Najaf is also home to the Al-Hawza Al-IIlmiya, one of the most prestigious Shia seminaries in the world. Najaf is also an ideal place to study Islamic theory, Jurisprudence and philosophy under prominent scholars. The soil and scent of Najaf made him an ardent follower of Shia Islam. The second major sect within Islam. Nasrallah was impressed with the teachings of his clerics. In fact, his surname Nasrallah literally translates as “victory through God”. But his education was cut short and he was forced to leave Iraq in the late 1970s due to the persecution of Shia clerics by the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein.
Nasrallah had no option but to return to Lebanon to continue his religious studies. During this time Lebanon witnessed a bloody civil war and invasion (between 1975- 1990) and which claimed thousands of lives. In its 15 years of civil war, Lebanon paid a huge price, The Britannica records that Nasrallah’s early life and career took a turn during this period, after the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon in 1975 caused the family to flee south from Beirut, Nasrallah joined Amal, a Lebanese Shiʿi paramilitary group with ties to Iran and Syria.
Joining Hezbollah
In June, 1982 Israel troops occupied southern parts of Lebanon and encircled the capital west Beirut. It was during this period, a group was formed in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah joined Hezbollah (Party of God).
An independent organisation called MEIRP (The Middle East research and information Project), a platform for critical analysis and discussion describes the growth of Hezbollah as, “its origins as a guerrilla organization resisting Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in the 1980s, Hizballah has become a full-fledged political party through an evolution culminating in its entrée into the cabinet in 2005. It is a distinctively Lebanese party, in that its electoral strength is built largely on social welfare organizations serving the Shi‘i population.”
Leadership of Hezbollah
After joining Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah quickly rose through its ranks as his connections and influence in Lebanon and in Iran helped him gain leadership positions in Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah was chosen as the leader of Hezbollah after the assassination of another prominent leader, Secretary-General, Abbas al-Musawi in 1992.
New York Times reported, “The dramatic afternoon raid on a motorcade carrying the Shiite Muslim leader, Sheik Abbas Musawi, outside Jibchit in southern Lebanon kept this part of the Middle East locked in a new cycle of violence…” while the Tehran Times quoting sources reported the assassination in detail, “Israeli Apache helicopters fired missiles at his motorcade the Lebanese-South. The attack targeted him, his wife, his five-year-old son, and four guards. Immediately, Israel admitted that the assassination had been planned to retaliate the kidnapping and death of missing Israeli technicians, in 1986, and the abduction of the UN peacekeeping officer William R. Higgins, in 1988.”
Since then, Hassan Nasrallah has been leading the group both as a military and political force in Lebanon. Nasrallah was instrumental for the growth of Hezbollah into a powerful entity and engaged his men and manpower in armed resistance against Israel and becoming a major political power in Lebanon.
Observers of the Middle East crisis say that Hezbollah’s relationships with Iran were strong and amicable. Flipside, Iran has been eminently reasonable. Hezbollah always acted “in consultation with Iran, rather than under Iran’s orders” and that decisions are made in Lebanon, “not always in tandem with Iran.”
Hezbollah looked to Iran for guidance and to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for weapons and training. Nasrallah subsequently made his group independent.
Under his leadership, his commanders and leaders helped train fighters from Hamas, an organisation founded during the first Palestinian uprising in December 1987 by Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Hamas operates as a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist militant organisation that provides support to Palestinian population. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by several countries.
Over the period of time, Hezbollah forces targeted Israel and carried out deadly attacks on Israel and the US forces in Lebanon. They also took the credit for pushing Israel out of Lebanon in 2000. Since then they have been opposing Israel’s presence in the border areas of Lebanon.
War with Israel
In 2006, the skirmishes resulted in a full- blown war between Hezbollah and Israel, triggering deadly cross border raids. The group was then designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, Western countries, the Gulf and Arab states.
As a powerful political forum, Hezbollah operates charities, hospitals, cultural organisations and schools in Lebanon. Nasrallah was revered for his thinking and service by his supporters.
The UN report of the Commission of inquiry on Lebanon pursuant to Human rights council resolutions, Hezbollah is a legally recognised political party, with duly elected representative in the parliament and is part of the government.
Thanassis Cambanis, a journalist who has been writing about the Middle East for more than a decade chronicles the developments of the 2006 war in his book, A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel.
As per Cambanis, “War came unexpectedly to Hizballah in 2006.” He quotes at length the televised post-war apology of Nasrallah: “You ask me now: If there was even a 1 percent chance that the…capturing operation would have led to war like the one that happened, would you have done it? I would say no, absolutely not, for humanitarian, moral, social, security, military and political reasons. I would not agree to it, and neither would Hizballah, the prisoners in Israeli prisons, nor the families of the prisoners. This is absolute.”
This clearly indicates Nasrallah and his party did not want to start an all-out war with Israel and was expecting a calibrated retaliation within what were called the rules of the game but others describe it as Hezbollah on its own started the war with Israel.
Nasrallah’s Death and Legacy
Prior to his death, Hassan Nasrallah had not been seen for months and years on fears of being assassinated by Israel. As feared, Israel targeted strikes against Hezbollah with precision on Friday evening, immediately after the Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu finished his Speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
No doubt, Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination by Israel is a big blow to the group he led for a little over three decades and became a focal point of Middle East politics.
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