2024-10-02 01:43:15
Nasrallah’s death, along with the elimination of numerous other senior commanders in airstrikes and the sabotage of the terrorist group’s communications network, threw Hezbollah into disarray, the Israeli TPS agency wrote, quoted by BTA.
In his first public comments on the killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night that Nasrallah was “not just another terrorist – he was the terrorist”, calling him the “central mover of Iran’s axis of evil”.
US President Joe Biden described Nasrallah’s elimination as “justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese civilians”.
Nasrallah was born in Beirut in 1960. He was active in politics from an early age, briefly joining the Shiite Amal party while a student in the city of Tyre. But at the age of 16, he traveled to Iraq, where he a meeting with the Shia cleric Abbas al-Moussawi, who later became the secretary general of the terrorist organization “Hezbollah”. Nasrallah joined the Shiite Islamist party Dawah, many of whose members later joined Hezbollah.
In 1982, he left the Amal movement forever and, with the help of local Shia figures and Iranian support, created the terrorist organization Hezbollah, in which he received a senior position among the founders. Shortly thereafter, he was given responsibility for the Bekaa region in Lebanon while still only 22 years old.
In 1985, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Beirut Council, one of the organization’s three branches at the time, quickly becoming the organization’s military leader in the city. In addition, he was a member of the politburo of Hezbollah.
In 1987, he was appointed head of the organization’s Operational Executive Council and became a member of Hezbollah’s Supreme Council. When Hezbollah’s co-founder and first secretary-general Abbas al-Moussawi was killed in an Israeli ambush on his motorcade in 1992 ., Nasrallah was appointed to replace him only at the age of 32.
During his 32 years at the helm of Hezbollah, Nasrallah was responsible for killing scores of Israeli civilians and soldiers, planning and executing thousands of terrorist attacks against Israelis and others around the world. He occupies a central role and makes all strategic decisions within the terrorist organization.
Hezbollah has carried out several major terrorist attacks since he took over.
1994: A Hezbollah suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb at the headquarters of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, killing 85 and injuring over 300 in 1994.
1996: A Hezbollah suicide bomber blows up part of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. service members involved in the operation to enforce a no-fly zone over southern Iraq.
2000: Hezbollah kidnaps Israeli businessman Elhanan Tanenbaum after luring him to Dubai for a drug deal. The same year, Hezbollah kidnaps three Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
2005: Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a car bomb attack. A UN-backed tribunal later indicted four members of Hezbollah.
2006: In a cross-border raid, Hezbollah kills eight soldiers and kidnaps two, sparking the Second Lebanon War. The war ends when Hezbollah and Israel pass UN Security Resolution 1701, which calls for an immediate cease-fire and for Hezbollah to be disarmed south of the Litani River Nasrallah lived in hiding for the rest of his life.
2012: Hezbollah blows up an Israeli tourist bus in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, killing six people and injuring 32.
Since 1992, Hezbollah has also attempted and ultimately foiled attacks in Turkey, Thailand, Azerbaijan, India, Georgia and Bulgaria.
After the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at communities in northern Israel. More than 60,000 residents of northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes. Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.
Israeli officials are calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.