Nasrallah, Hassan (1960–)

Since 1992, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has held the post of secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim military and political group. Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah after his mentor Abbas al-Musawi, then the leader of the group, was assassinated by Israel in 1992. Viewed as an extremist by Israel and the West, Nasrallah is a prominent figure in Lebanese politics and across the Arab world. He is a charismatic speaker, highly intelligent and deeply religious, who has mixed a populist social welfare policy with border warfare with Israel.

Born in 1960 in East Beirut's Bourj el-Hammoud, he is the oldest of nine children. In 1975, the civil war in Lebanon forced the family to move to South Lebanon, near the city of Tyre. At the age of 15, Nasrallah joined the Amal Movement, a political organization that represents Shi'ites in Lebanon. After finishing high school, Nasrallah spent 3 years at an Islamic seminary in Najaf, Iraq. In 1978, Saddam Hussein expelled hundreds of Lebanese religious students, and so Nasrallah returned to Lebanon. He studied and taught at a religious school that al-Musawi, then leader of the Amal Movement, had established. Later, Nasrallah became a political delegate for Amal in the Bekaa Valley. After the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Nasrallah joined Hezbollah, whose main goal was to resist Israeli occupation of South Lebanon. In 1987, Nasrallah resumed his religious studies in Qom, Iran, but returned to Lebanon 2 years later when hostilities resumed during the Lebanese civil war.

When Nasrallah took the position of Hezbollah's leader in 1992, he met some resistance within the organization. He won grassroots support by cultivating a social welfare network that provided schools, clinics, and housing in predominantly Shi'ite communities throughout Lebanon. With help from sympathetic Muslim communities in Iran and elsewhere, he also helped small businesses get on their feet through investments. The military wing of Hezbollah under Nasrallah's leadership played a role in Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000. This ended a 22-year occupation of Lebanon and projected Nasrallah to prominence in Lebanon's political arena and the Arab world.

In 2004, Nasrallah was hailed as a hero for negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel. On July 12, 2006, Nasrallah gained international status when Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers from a border post near Lebanon, prompting a massive Israeli attack on Lebanon. In this conflict, Nasrallah emerged as a folk hero in the Arab world for resisting the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and fighting back, thus dismantling the notion among many Arabs that the Israeli military is invincible.

Hassan Nasrallah is married to Fatima Yassin and has five children. His oldest son, Mohammed Hadi, died in 1997 while fighting the Israeli forces in Southern Lebanon.