Who is Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah chief targeted by Israeli airstrikes
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday carried out deadly airstrikes against Hezbollah's major headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon. According to Reuters, which cited an Axios report, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes. Following the airstrikes, an Israeli official stated that Nasrallah was unlikely to have survived, although the militant group claimed he was safe.
Nasrallah has been at the helm of Hezbollah since 1992
A shadowy figure with close links to Iran, the 64-year-old has been at the helm of Hezbollah since 1992. He is one of the best known and most influential figures in the Middle East, but has avoided public appearances for years due to fears of assassination by Israel, BBC reported. He was instrumental in transforming Hezbollah into the political and military force it is today, and the group's members still revere him.
Nasrallah's life and leadership of Hezbollah
Nasrallah was born on August 31, 1960, to a poor grocer family in the northern Burj Hammud suburb of Beirut. He has been leading Hezbollah since his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi was assassinated by Israel in a helicopter strike. Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah assisted in training fighters from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, as well as militias in Iraq and Yemen, and procured missiles and rockets from Iran for use against Israel.
Nasrallah's secretive lifestyle
Officials and journalists who have met Nasrallah describe "tight security measures" that keep them unaware of their location. For the past two decades, most of his speeches have been recorded and broadcast from a secret location. In a 2014 interview, Nasrallah denied living in a bunker but admitted to "regularly switching sleeping places." In his most recent speech, Nasrallah accused Israel of detonating thousands of pagers and radio handsets used by Hezbollah fighters, killing 39 and injuring thousands more.
Nasrallah's family and Hezbollah's evolution under his leadership
One of his first actions after taking over the group at 32 was to retaliate for Musawi's assassination. He directed rocket attacks into northern Israel that resulted in the death of a girl, and 29 more people were killed by a suicide bomber who attacked the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nasrallah also waged a low-intensity battle with Israeli soldiers that concluded in their withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, but his eldest son was killed in a firefight.
