Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic: حسن نصر الله, romanized: Ḥasan Naṣr-Allāh, pronounced [ˈħasan nasˤraˈɫːaːh]; 31 August 1960 – 27 September 2024) was a Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024.

Nasrallah joined Hezbollah, which was formed, declaring that its confrontation with Israel "should only end when it has been removed from existence",[1] to fight the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

After a brief period of religious studies in Iran, Nasrallah returned to Lebanon and became Hezbollah's leader after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike in 1992.

[6] After the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel followed by war, Hezbollah engaged in support of Hamas in ongoing conflict that impacted both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border.

[8] Hassan Nasrallah was born the ninth of ten children into a Shia family in Bourj Hammoud, Matn District (an eastern suburb of Beirut), on 31 August 1960.

[9] His father, Abdul Karim Nasrallah, was born in Al-Bazouriyah, a village in Jabal Amel (Southern Lebanon) located near Tyre, and worked as a fruit and vegetables seller.

The school followed the teachings of Iraqi Shi'ite scholar Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, who founded the Dawa movement in Najaf, Iraq, during the early 1960s.

[12][9] Nasrallah was forced to return to Lebanon in 1979, by that time having completed the first part of his study, as Saddam Hussein was expelling many Shias[9] including the future Iranian supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, and also Abbas Musawi.

[2] During Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah acquired rockets with a longer range, which allowed them to strike at northern Israel despite the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

In 1996 Israel launched Operation Grapes of Wrath, blocking important Lebanese harbour cities and bombing a Syrian military base.

In September 1997, Nasrallah's public image changed dramatically with his speech about the news of his eldest son's killing by Israeli forces, along with his visits to other mourning families.

[19] A December article in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat said that command of the organization's military wing was transferred from Nasrallah to his deputy, Na'im Qasim in August 2007.

[22] Widespread protests in Lebanon in October 2019 due to a deepening financial and economic crisis put pressure on the government leaders to resign, including Nasrallah himself.

[29] The Free Patriotic Movement in turn agreed to work for reform of the confessional electoral system of the Parliament of Lebanon and move it in the direction of one man, one vote.

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned on 14 July of the risk of "the region being dragged into adventurism that does not serve Arab interests," while the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal called the Hezbollah attacks "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

The Lebanese resistance provided strong proof to all Arab and Islamic armies...[4]What is known as the "Green Flood" (Al-sayl al-akhdhar) came after the war, according to Iranian-born journalist Amir Taheri.

[38] Nasrallah also said that "if research was done on the internet websites posting such unfounded information, it would reveal that they are all being run from that same dark room, and that their aim is to serve American-Israeli interests.

"[40] He added that at first the organization had considered denying the false information with a written message, "but when the news agencies began to publish it we decided to hold a televised interview, and here I am before you telling you I was not poisoned.

[51] Lebanese writer, Amal Saad-Ghorayeb quotes Hassan Nasrallah as saying, "If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew.

"[57][58][59] The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a pro-Israel media watchdog group, MEMRI, and Shaul Shai interpret this language as broadly antisemitic.

[61] Journalist Badih Chayban in a 23 October 2002 article in The Daily Star wrote that Nasrallah said, "If they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."

"[66][67] "What do the people who worked in those two World Trade Center towers, along with thousands of employees, women and men, have to do with war that is taking place in the Middle East?...

[14] According to Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya, a video posted on their site is of Nasrallah giving a speech circa 1988 in which he states, "Our plan, to which we, as faithful believers, have no alternative, is to establish an Islamic state... Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic, governed by the Master of Time [the Mahdi], and his rightful deputy, the Jurisprudent Ruler, Imam Khomeini,"[69] During the 2006 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Nasrallah declared in a speech aired on Al-Manar TV and Al-Jazeera TV that: "If there had been a Muslim to carry out Imam Khomeini's fatwā against the renegade Salman Rushdie, this rabble who insult our Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, Norway and France would not have dared to do so.

[76][77][78] The following day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that Nasrallah had died in the strike;[79] Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities later confirmed his death and his body was later found under the rubble.

[84] After his death, Nasrallah was temporarily buried in a secret location to avoid potential Israeli attacks on Hezbollah supporters during his funeral,[85] which took place on 23 February 2025.

[86] The Economist wrote in September 2024 that Nasrallah's death would "reshape" Lebanon and the Middle East in ways which "would have been unthinkable a year ago" and that the next leader of Hezbollah would face the "most precarious moment" in the organization's history owing to Israel's destruction of almost their entire leadership.

[88][89][90] Senior Hezbollah official Ali Daamoush claimed that about 800 personalities from 65 countries would attend the funeral, in addition to thousands of individuals and activists from around the world.

[100] American activist Osama Siblani praised Nasrallah as a "great leader"[101] at a 2024 Israel-Hamas war protest rally in Dearborn, Michigan.

[102] Nasrallah was often referred to as "al-Sayyid Hassan" (السيد حسن), the honorific "Sayyid" denoting a claim of descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husayn ibn Ali.

[citation needed] Another popular song composed in tribute to him was by Lebanese Christian singer Julia Boutros, called "Ahebba'i", meaning "my loved ones", which was inspired by Nasrallah's words in a televised message he sent to Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war.