Backgrounder: Profile: Hassan Nasrallah
Council on Foreign Relations
Author: Eben Kaplan, Assistant Editor
July 20, 2006
Introduction
Since 1992, Hassan Nasrallah has been the leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. A popular political figure in Lebanon, Nasrallah is a driving force behind Hezbollah's ongoing military operations as well as the group's foray into politics. On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah fighters abducted two Israeli soldiers from a border post near Lebanon, prompting a massive Israeli military campaign and thrusting Nasrallah and his organization into the international spotlight.
Who is Hassan Nasrallah?
As the secretary general of Hezbollah, Nasrallah is the group's highest-ranking official. He rose to that position in 1992, when an Israeli helicopter gunned down his predecessor and mentor, Sayyad Abbas Musawi. Viewed as an extremist by Israel and the West, Nasrallah is a prominent figure in Lebanese politics. Charismatic, highly intelligent, and deeply religious, his face appears on billboards, key chains, and screensavers; excerpts of his speeches are even used as cell phone ring tones.
Born in 1960 in East Beirut's Bourji Hammoud neighborhood, Nasrallah, the oldest of nine children, aspired to religious leadership from a young age. In 1975, when a civil war broke out in Lebanon, Nasrallah's family moved to its ancestral home in the southern Lebanese village of Bassouriyeh. While attending services in the nearby city of Tyre, Nasrallah caught the attention of one of the clerics, who encouraged him to pursue his theological education abroad. The following year, upon finishing secondary school, Nasrallah went to study in a seminary in Najaf, Iraq. It was there he first met Musawi.
In 1978, Iraq expelled hundreds of Lebanese religious students, and Nasrallah and Musawi were forced to return to Lebanon.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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