Profile

BBC - Profile. Thursday, 13 July 2006

Profile: Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah - or Party of God - has re-positioned the Shia organisation as a major player in Lebanese politics.

Viewed by many Israelis as a terrorist and religious fanatic, Sheikh Nasrallah has become a vastly influential figure in Lebanon.

Diplomats and others who have met him describe him as highly intelligent, widely-read and politically astute.

Hassan Nasrallah was born in 1960 in southern Beirut, one of nine children of a poor grocer. After Lebanon erupted into civil war in 1975, his family fled the city to its ancestral village in the south of the country.

As a teenager, he studied both politics and the Koran, spending three years at the Shia seminary in Najaf in Iraq, where he met Sayyad Abbas Musawi, his predecessor as leader of Hezbollah.

In 1978, Sheikh Nasrallah was expelled from Iraq and became heavily involved in Lebanese politics, first as a member of the Shia Amal militia, then as the Amal political representative for the Bekaa region.

Praised suicide bombers

He also studied and taught religion at a school founded by Musawi in the Baalbek area.

But Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon transformed the situation. Nasrallah and many of his colleagues broke away from Amal, which was being pressured to join a National Salvation Front, which had established relations with Israel.

With the formation of a new organisation, Hezbollah, Sheikh Nasrallah concentrated on political work.

Hezbollah's military wing is believed to have been behind a large number of deadly attacks, hijackings, kidnappings of Westerners, including Terry Waite, and the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut which killed 241 people in 1983.

After Musawi was assassinated by the Israelis in 1992, Sheikh Nasrallah, aged just 32, was elected his successor.

Weeks later a suicide bomber killed 29 people and injured 100 more in an attack on the Israeli embassy in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.

Another bombing, of a Jewish community centre in the same city in 1994, killed 85 and injured more than 200.

Hezbollah is widely believed to have been involved in these attacks.

Sheikh Nasrallah then used a twin-track approach, supporting Hezbollah charities while masterminding the low-intensity war with the Israeli Defence Force which ended with its withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

More recently, he is believed to have been involved in providing information and intelligence for Palestinian groups. He has praised Palestinian suicide bombers for "creating a deterrence and equalising fear."

And, in the months following the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, in February 2005, Sheikh Nasrallah - who, tellingly, no longer calls for Lebanon to become an Islamic state - has emerged as an influential arbitrator between the country's many political factions.

Sheikh Nasrallah, his wife and their three children, are said to live simply in a poor area of south Beirut. It is said that he has read books written by the former Israeli prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu.

His eldest son, Hadi, became a fighter with Hezbollah, and was killed in 1997 during a fire-fight with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5176612.stm

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Victory Promised in Syria

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BBC: 30 April 2013

Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah in Syria pledge

The head of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has declared that Syria has real friends who will not let it fall to the US, Israel or Islamic radicals.
Hassan Nasrallah said Syria's opposition was too weak to bring down Bashar al-Assad's regime militarily.
He was speaking in an address broadcast on Hezbollah's TV station al-Manar.
BBC Arab affairs analyst Sebastian Usher says the speech tacitly confirmed the group has been involved in fighting in neighbouring Syria.
The Syrian opposition has long claimed the Iranian-backed Shia movement has been supplying fighters to help Mr Assad, a key Hezbollah backer.
"A large number [of rebels] were preparing to capture villages inhabited by Lebanese... so it was normal to offer every possible and necessary aid to help the Syrian army," Mr Nasrallah was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
The Hezbollah leader said it had never hidden its martyrs, but that reports that large numbers of its fighters had been killed were lies.
He also warned that if a key Shia shrine south of Damascus - that named after Sayida Zeinab, a granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad - were to be destroyed, it would spark revenge that could get out of control.
"If the shrine is destroyed things will get out of control," he said.
Mr Nasrallah tried to reassure his domestic audience that - above all - Hezbollah wanted to avoid the Syrian war coming to Lebanon, adds our correspondent, but many there may find little to comfort them in this latest show of defiance.
The announcement came hours after 14 people were killed by a powerful explosion in Damascus, and a day after Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survived a car bomb attack in the Syrian capital.
Government forces and rebels have been fighting in and around Damascus for months, but neither have gained the upper hand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22360351

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BBC: 25 May 2013

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah vows victory in Syria

The leader of the Lebanese Shia militant Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has promised his supporters they will prevail in Syria, where they are backing President Bashar al-Assad.
"This battle is ours... and I promise you victory," he said in a TV address.
Syrian rebels in the besieged town of Qusair say they are under heavy bombardment from Hezbollah combatants. The town is close to the Lebanese border, a conduit for both the government and rebels to get weapons.
In the speech from an undisclosed location, Mr Hasrallah said if Sunni Islamists took over in Syria, they would pose a threat to the entire Lebanese population - Shia and Sunni Muslims, as well as Christians. He said his movement could never be aligned with Syrian rebels who, in his view, were supported by the United States and Israel.
Dozens of Hezbollah militants are said to have been killed fighting alongside Syrian troops in Qusair since 19 May, when government forces launched an offensive to recapture the rebel-held town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22669230
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Advance Missiles

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17 August 2012

HEZBOLLAH CLAIMS IT HAS MORDERN MISSILES

Jews will pay the worst price in the next war, warns Hizbollah Commander.

Lebanese gorilla leader Hasan Nasrallah threatned to make the lives of the citizens of Israel very uncomfortable in the event of the next war. He vowed to turn their lives into hell. Speaking on Al Quds Day he expressed his support for Palestinians who are under occupation by the Israeli military. Hizbollah Chief claims to know exactly where to hit Israel. Nasrallah said he has made a list of top targets.

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Hezbollah says can make Israeli lives 'hell'

AP – Friday 17 August 2012

BEIRUT - Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah will transform the lives of Israelis to "hell" if Israel attacks Lebanon, its leader said on Friday, adding that the group would not hesitate to hit targets that would leave tens of thousands of Israelis dead.

Speaking in a televised speech marking Jerusalem Day — an annual rally in support of the Palestinians - Shiekh Hassan Nasrallah said only a few rockets fired by the group's militia could cause massive casualties, given its well-planned target list.

"Rockets are ready and directed at these targets," he said. "We will not hesitate to use them, if we have to, at any point in time in the course of aggression against our country to protect our people," he added.

"Hezbollah cannot destroy Israel but we can transform the lives of millions of Zionists in occupied Palestine into a real hell," the black-turbaned Nasrallah said. "We can change the face of Israel."

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Hezbollah says can kill tens of thousands of Israelis

By Tom Perry – REUTERS - Fri Aug 17, 2012

Hezbollah said on Friday it could kill tens of thousands of Israelis by hitting targets with what it described as precision-guided missiles in a declaration that seemed aimed at deterring Israeli strikes on Lebanon or its regional backer Iran.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group could turn the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis "to real hell" by hitting a small number of number of targets which he said was "not large" - a possible reference to nuclear facilities, though Nasrallah would not go into details.

"During any stage of an attack on our country, if we are forced to use or target this type of target, to protect our people and country, we will not hesitate," he said.

Nasrallah's remarks will likely be factored into Israeli calculations ahead of any military action against Iran, which is pursuing a nuclear program viewed as an existential threat in Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said he believes his country would suffer up to 500 casualties in any conflict aimed at wiping out Iran's nuclear facilities - which both Israel and Western powers believe Tehran is using to develop nuclear weapons.

"We can talk about tens of thousands of dead," Nasrallah said in a speech to mark Jerusalem Day, commemorated on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan according to a tradition established by Iran's late Ayatollah Khomeini.

"I tell the Israelis that you have a number of targets, not a large number that can be hit with precision rockets we have," Nasrallah said.

"Hitting these targets with a small number of rockets will turn the lives of hundreds of thousands of Zionists to real hell," he said.

Nasrallah did not say whether the precision-guided rockets he described in his speech were a new addition to the group's arsenal. Marking Jerusalem Day in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said there was no place for Israel in a future Middle East.

Nasrallah said Israel was still debating whether to attack Iran because "Iran was strong and brave". "We all know that the Islamic republic's response will be very great and thunderous if it is targeted by Israel".

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Hezbollah warns of living 'hell' for Israelis if attacked

AFP - 17 August 2012

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday that his Iranian-backed Shiite militia would make lives of Israelis "a living hell" if it is attacked.

"There are targets in occupied Palestine (Israel) which could be targeted by a small number of missiles," Nasrallah said.

"If we are forced to use them to protect our people and our country, we will not hesitate to do so... and that will turn the lives of hundreds of thousands of Zionists into a living hell," he said in a speech marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

Nasrallah warned of "tens of thousands of deaths, and not just 300 to 500 dead," adding that Hezbollah, which is also backed by Syria, had fixed its targets.

Hezbollah follows the example of its backer in marking Quds Day, a show of support for the Palestinians over the disputed holy city of Jerusalem.

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EU loves Nasrallah

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European Union Backs Iran's Hezbollah

September 25, 2012

While Britain and the Netherlands urged other EU governments to join the United States in imposing sanctions on Hezbollah, they were unable to convince the other EU members.

Last July, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, visited the EU capital, Brussels, to persuade the EU to follow America's example and classify Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Lieberman met with resistance – a lot. He was attempting to isolate Hezbollah after the July 18 suicide bombing at Bulgarian airport.

According to Israeli and American intelligence sources, the terrorist attack was the work of Hezbollah, upon orders from Iran. Nevertheless, the Cypriot minister of Foreign Affairs, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency said that there is "no tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terrorism;" hence, there was "no consensus for putting Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organizations." He emphasized that Hezbollah was an organization with a political as well as an armed wing and that it has representatives in the Lebanese parliament and government.

In 2008, the Netherlands declared Hezbollah and all its branches terrorist entities. Britain considers only its armed wing a terrorist group. Consequently, Hezbollah can operate freely all over Europe, except in the Netherlands. Apart from the Netherlands and the United States, only Canada, Australia and New Zealand have classified Hezbollah as a terrorist group. The European Parliament did the same in a 2005 resolution, but as the latter was non-binding the EU has ignored it.

Jacob Campbell, a researcher at the British Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy, told the Jerusalem Post: "Within just days of the Burgas bombing – almost undoubtedly perpetrated by Hezbollah – the Presidency of the EU Council explicitly ruled out the possibility of listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, insisting that there is no 'tangible evidence' to link Hezbollah to terrorism. This ludicrous statement was made despite an earlier resolution adopted by the European Parliament, which cites 'clear evidence' of terrorist acts committed by Hezbollah. On this issue, as in so many others, Brussels appears to have its head buried firmly in the sand."

France is one of the countries that oppose the efforts to blacklist Hezbollah. France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, wants to preserve its diplomatic influence in that country.

The German government, too, refuses to draw the obvious conclusion regarding Hezbollah, although the German domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesverfassungsschutz, has warned that Hezbollah has over 900 active members in Germany.

Meanwhile, one can only hope that the new government in the Netherlands, in which the pro-Palestinian Labor Party is likely to participate, does not reverse the current Dutch policies. The courageous stance of the past Dutch government and its willingness to face the facts, has led to a more realistic view on the part of ordinary Dutch citizens regarding politics in the Middle East. A recent poll showed that the Dutch are far more positive towards Israel than they were nine years ago. In 2003, 71% of the Dutch regarded Israel as a "threat to world peace," while today this percentage has dwindled to 35%, with 36% regarding the Palestinian Authority as a threat to peace.

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