Who is Hassan Nasrallah — Hezbollah chief who transformed the group into a regional force

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, a prominent Arab figure with Iranian backing.

Lebanon’s Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who Israel said on Saturday (September 28, 2024) it has killed, has led Hezbollah through decades of conflict with Israel, overseeing its transformation into a military force with regional sway and becoming one of the most prominent Arab figures in generations - with Iranian backing. The Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years. The Israeli military said it had killed Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group’s central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut a day earlier.

The Israeli military "eliminated ... Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization," Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a statement on X.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon: Highlights from September 28, 2024

If the Israeli claim of his death is confirmed by Hezbollah, Nasrallah will be remembered among his supporters for standing up to Israel and defying the United States. To enemies, he has been head of a terrorist organisation and a proxy for Iran's Shi'ite Islamist theocracy in its tussle for influence in the Middle East.

His regional influence has been on display over nearly a year of conflict ignited by the Gaza war, as Hezbollah entered the fray by firing on Israel from southern Lebanon in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, and Yemeni and Iraqi groups followed suit, operating under the umbrella of "The Axis of Resistance". "We are facing a great battle," Nasrallah said in an Aug. 1 speech at the funeral of Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. Yet when thousands of Hezbollah members were injured and dozens killed, when their communications devices exploded in an apparent Israeli attack last week, that battle began to turn against his group.

Responding to the attacks on Hezbollah's communications network in a September 19 speech, Nasrallah vowed to punish Israel.

"This is a reckoning that will come, its nature, its size, how and where? This is certainly what we will keep to ourselves and in the narrowest circle even within ourselves," he said. He has not given a broadcast address since then.