Lebanon in Crisis

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Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic: حسن نصر الله, romanized: Ḥasan Naṣr-Allāh, pronounced [ˈħasan nasˤraˈɫːaːh]; 31 August 1960 – 27 September 2024) was a Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024.
Born into a Shia family in the suburbs of Beirut in 1960, Nasrallah finished his education in Tyre, when he briefly joined the Amal Movement, and afterward at a Shia seminary in Baalbek. He later studied and taught at an Amal school. Nasrallah joined Hezbollah, which was formed to fight the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. After a brief period of religious studies in Iran, Nasrallah returned to Lebanon and became Hezbollah's leader after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike in 1992.
Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah acquired rockets with a longer range, which allowed them to strike at northern Israel. After Israel suffered heavy casualties during its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, it withdrew its forces in 2000, which greatly increased Hezbollah's popularity in the region, and bolstered Hezbollah's position within Lebanon. Hezbollah cultivated Nasrallah's media image as a charismatic authority, though this image was later weakened. Hezbollah's role in ambushing an Israeli border patrol unit leading up to the 2006 Lebanon War was subject to criticism, though he projected the end of the war as a Lebanese and Arab victory.
During the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah fought on the side of the Syrian government against what Nasrallah termed "Islamist extremists". Nasrallah also promoted the "Axis of Resistance", an informal coalition of Iran-backed groups focused on opposing Israel and the United States. After the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Hezbollah engaged in the war against Israel, resulting in an ongoing conflict that impacted both sides of the border. On 27 September 2024, Israel assassinated Nasrallah when its air force struck the group's headquarters.

Hassan Nasrallah

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Lebanon in Crisis