INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TEHRAN - Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the most powerful Arab figures in the Middle East, has left a lasting mark on modern Lebanon, the
Arab-Israel conflict and the wider region.He was martyred aged 64 in a series of powerful Israeli air strikes in southern Beirut on
September 27.Under Nasrallah, whose surname translates as "victory through God", Hezbollah grew from a local armed movement to the largest
fighters, making it among the most powerful armed organizations worldwide.Nasrallah, whose speeches attracted attention from across the
Middle East and beyond, was long prominent in the Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah, the Palestinian resistance movements Hamas
Sharshabouk, a deprived area of east Beirut's Karantina
Interested in religion while young, he was inspired by Sayyed Musa Sadr, an Iranian-born imam of Lebanese descent, who in the spring of 1974
conditions in east and south Lebanon.Civil war broke out in Lebanon in April 1975; in July, Sadr launched the Lebanese Resistance Brigades,
As the civil war escalated, his family moved from predominantly Christian east Beirut to their ancestral village of Bazourieh in Tyre.In
There, he met Lebanese scholar Sayyed Abbas Mussawi, who was studying under Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr, a cousin of Musa Sadr.In early 1978,
an Iraqi Baathist crackdown on Shia forced Nasrallah and Mussawi back to Lebanon
Mussawi founded a religious seminary in Baalbeck, where Nasrallah continued studying.The next year, Nasrallah and Mussawi - now an Amal
official - backed Iranian imam Ruhollah Khomeini, whose supporters had established the Islamic Republic of Iran.In June 1982, Israel invaded
the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).Israel besieged Beirut for 10 weeks before occupying it in September, intending to drive out the
PLO and install a friendly puppet government
The assault killed at least 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, mainly civilians, and more than 370 Israelis, most of them military.To deal
with the repercussions of the invasion, Lebanese President Elias Sarkis formed a unifying National Salvation Committee, including Amal
others who backed Imam Khomeini defected from Amal, accusing it of betrayal by joining the committee; armed resistance, they said, was the
only answer.The defectors established Hezbollah during the summer of 1982
warfare to drive Israel from Lebanon
It said this was a prelude to freeing historic Palestine, occupied by Zionist settlers, according to Middle East Eye.By the summer of 1985,
Israel had left much of south Lebanon, amid ongoing attacks, and occupied a string of communities close to the border
But Hezbollah pushed on and hit Israeli outposts in the so-called Security Zone.That summer, Shia groups hijacked TWA Flight 847 and forced
One hostage was killed; the remaining 152, more than half of whom were American, were freed after Israel released 700 Lebanese and
member of its shura council
He often went to Iran to consult and receive updates on the ongoing Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s because he spoke better Persian than his
strike.Nasrallah took over Hezbollah, and under his leadership, the group acquired longer-range rockets, allowing it to target more areas in
It has since participated in every parliamentary election.Of all the armed groups which have opposed Israel, Hezbollah has caused the
Israeli armed forces the most difficulty.Since the founding of Hezbollah in 1982, there has not been a year when there have not been
exchanges of fire or rocket fire between the two sides.During the mid-1990s, Hezbollah expanded military operations in the Israeli-occupied
without a treaty or security arrangement
