Iran's most prominent agent in the region.. Who is Hassan Nasrallah?

Lebanon's Hezbollah issued a statement on Saturday mourning Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, after the Israeli military announced Saturday morning that it had successfully assassinated Nasrallah on Friday evening in an airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Who is Hassan Nasrallah?

Hassan Nasrallah is a Shia cleric who has led the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon since February 1992. The group is currently one of the most important political parties in Lebanon, and has its own armed forces alongside the Lebanese National Army.

Nasrallah, who is widely popular in Lebanon and other Arab countries, is considered the main face of Hezbollah and has played a key role in the group's historical transformation into politics and gaining influence in the Lebanese government structure.

Nasrallah has a special relationship with both the Islamic Republic of Iran and its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Iran’s leaders and Nasrallah have never hidden their close ties.

Nasrallah has as many ardent admirers as he has fierce enemies. For this reason, he has not appeared in public for years, fearing assassination by Israel. But his disappearance has not stopped his audience from listening to his sermons on an almost weekly basis.

Childhood and adolescence

Hassan Nasrallah was born in August 1960 in a poor neighborhood in eastern Beirut. His father owned a small grocery store, and Nasrallah was the eldest of nine children.

He was 15 when the Lebanese civil war began, a devastating 15-year battle in the small Mediterranean country in which Lebanese citizens drew borders and fought each other based on their sectarian affiliation.

Although Nasrallah studied in Najaf for only two years and was then forced to leave Iraq, his presence in Najaf had a profound impact on the life of this young Lebanese man: in Najaf he met another cleric named Abbas al-Musawi.

Moussawi was considered one of Musa al-Sadr's students in Lebanon, and during his stay in Najaf he was strongly influenced by the political ideas of Ruhollah Khomeini. Moussawi was eight years older than Nasrallah, and quickly became a strict teacher and influential mentor in Hassan Nasrallah's life.

After returning to Lebanon, the two joined the fighting in the civil war. But this time, Nasrallah headed to Abbas al-Musawi's hometown of Nabi Sheet in the Bekaa.

The Iranian Revolution and the Founding of Hezbollah

A year after Hassan Nasrallah's return to Lebanon, a revolution took place in Iran. Ruhollah Khomeini, who was admired by clerics such as Abbas al-Musawi and Hassan Nasrallah, seized power. This event profoundly changed the relationship between the Shiites of Lebanon and Iran. In addition, the political life and armed struggle of the Lebanese Shiites were greatly influenced by the events in Iran and by the ideology of Shiite political Islam.

For Hassan Nasrallah, this profound transformation was largely the result of a decree issued by Ruhollah Khomeini. In 1981, Nasrallah met with the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran. Khomeini appointed him as his representative in Lebanon “to look after the affairs of the Hisba and collect Islamic funds.”

After that, Nasrallah began making intermittent trips to Iran, where he established relationships with the highest levels of decision-making and power within the Iranian government.

Shiite Islamists in Iran have paid great attention to the historical record and religious ties with Lebanese Shiites.

When he returned to Lebanon, a major rift arose between him and Abbas al-Musawi. At the time, al-Musawi supported increased Syrian activity and influence in Lebanon under Hafez al-Assad, while Nasrallah insisted that the group focus on attacks against American and Israeli soldiers.

Nasrallah found himself in the minority within Hezbollah, and shortly thereafter, he was appointed “Hezbollah’s representative in Iran.” This job brought him back to Iran and at the same time distanced him from the Lebanese arena.

On the surface, Iran's influence over Hezbollah appeared to be waning, and despite Tehran's extensive support, it proved difficult to influence Hezbollah's decisions. Tensions escalated to the point that in 1991, Subhi Tufayli was removed as Hezbollah's secretary-general over his opposition to the group's ties to Iran, and Abbas al-Musawi was appointed in his place.

After the isolation of Tafeeli, Hassan Nasrallah returned to his country, after his positions on Syria's role in Lebanon seemed to have changed, and he effectively became the second man in the Hezbollah group.

Lebanese Hezbollah leadership

Abbas al-Musawi was assassinated by Israeli agents less than a year after he was elected Hezbollah’s secretary-general. That same year, 1992, the leadership of the group passed to Hassan Nasrallah. At the time, he was 32 years old, and many saw his selection as linked to his special ties to Iran. Even in the eyes of many Shiite clerics, Nasrallah lacked sufficient religious education, which is why he continued his studies in parallel with his leadership duties.

One of Hassan Nasrallah's important initiatives at that time was to nominate some of his affiliates and members of Hezbollah in the Lebanese elections. It had been a year since the Saudi mediation in the Lebanese civil war and its end in the Taif Agreement. Nasrallah decided to make Hezbollah's political wing a serious player in the country alongside the military branch.

At that time, Nasrallah seemed more powerful and influential than ever, and his opponents in Lebanese politics faced a serious challenge in confronting him and preventing the expansion of his influence and power.

Hariri assassination and Syria's withdrawal

In 2005, after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, then Prime Minister of Lebanon, public opinion changed. Rafik Hariri was one of the most important politicians close to Saudi Arabia, and he made great efforts to prevent the rise of Hezbollah’s influence.

Popular anger was directed at Hezbollah and its main military ally inside Lebanon, Syria, who were accused of involvement in Hariri's assassination. As a result of the large demonstrations held by the opposition in Beirut, Syria announced that it would withdraw its forces from the country.

However, when parliamentary elections were held in the same year, not only did Hezbollah increase its vote, but it was also able to appoint two of its members to the government.

In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah fighters carried out an operation on Lebanon's southern border, killing one soldier and capturing two. Israel responded with a fierce 33-day offensive, during which some 1,200 Lebanese were killed.

The result of this war was an increase in Nasrallah's popularity, who was portrayed in Arab countries as the last one resisting Israel.

At the end of the war, Hezbollah again refused to surrender its weapons. In addition, the group played a major role in rebuilding the devastation left by the war, a role that opponents of the Islamic Republic in Iran say was made possible by generous financial support from Tehran.

Nasrallah's growing influence and consolidation of his position

As Hezbollah's influence has grown, its political opponents, especially Lebanon's Sunnis, have insisted that Hezbollah has become a state within a state, and said its activities are weakening Lebanon's security and economy.

In 2008, after months of political conflict, the Lebanese government decided to dismantle the communications system that was under Hezbollah's control and place all communications affairs under government control. Nasrallah rejected this decision, and within a short time, his militia had complete control over Beirut.

This move by Nasrallah was met with widespread criticism from Western countries. However, after political negotiations, he was able to increase Hezbollah's power in the Lebanese cabinet.

Nasrallah is accused of involving Lebanon in regional wars that increase internal tensions and deepen the division among the Lebanese people, especially his support for the Syrian regime in suppressing the Syrian revolution, which broke out in 2011 demanding the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

He was also involved in the war in Yemen, and said more than once that he stands with the Houthis in this war and cannot be a mediator to stop or calm it. He wished more than once that he was present in Yemen to fight the Yemeni government and people.

In addition, he sent dozens of military leaders from his party to lead military operations against the Yemeni army and the coalition, and stated in 2021 that he was waiting for Marib to fall into the hands of the Houthis to ensure a massive regional victory for the Iranian axis against Yemen and the coalition.

On October 17, 2019, the revolution erupted in Lebanon as a result of the stifling financial and economic crisis the country is suffering from. The protests have affected all political parties, including Hassan Nasrallah, as the revolutionaries raised the slogan "All of them means all of them, Nasrallah is one of them."

In 2020, Nasrallah was accused by Lebanese of storing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in Hangar 12 of Beirut Port, which exploded, causing catastrophic human and material losses.

Source: BBC+ Yemen Youth Net