ExplainerWho was Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief killed in an Israeli strike?
The astute strategist led the Lebanese group for three decades, turning it into one of the region’s most powerful paramilitary organisations
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah led the Lebanese militant group for the past three decades, transforming it into one of the most powerful paramilitary groups in the Middle East.
Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that he was killed in an Israeli air raid that levelled six apartment buildings in Beirut the previous day.
An astute strategist, the 64-year-old Nasrallah reshaped Hezbollah into an arch-enemy of Israel, cementing alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.
Under his leadership, Hezbollah fought wars against Israel and took part in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favour of President Bashar al-Assad.
Idolised by his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world, Nasrallah held the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
A fiery orator viewed as an extremist in the US and much of the West, he was also considered a pragmatist compared to the militants who dominated Hezbollah after its founding in 1982, during Lebanon’s civil war.