Hassan Nasrallah, the Islamic leader who has defied Israel for decades

Hassan Nasrallah has led the Lebanese militant group for the past three decades, transforming it into one of the most powerful paramilitary groups in the Middle East.

On Friday afternoon Israeli airstrikes knocked out six buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik, the largest strike on the Lebanese capital in nearly a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the strike, which killed and wounded dozens of people, hit the headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut. Three major Israeli TV channels said Nasrallah was the target of the strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which has not been officially confirmed by Israel. Hezbollah officials did not comment.

Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Nasrallah, Hezbollah has fought wars against Israel and taken part in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favour of President Bashar Assad.

An astute strategist, Nasrallah reshaped Hezbollah into an archenemy of Israel, cementing alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.

Idolised by his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world, Nasrallah holds the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

A fiery orator viewed as an extremist in the United States and much of the West, he is also considered a pragmatist compared to the militants who dominated Hezbollah after its founding in 1982, during Lebanon’s civil war.

Despite the power he wields, Nasrallah has lived largely in hiding for fear of an Israeli assassination.

Nasrallah’s rise to power

Born in 1960 into a poor Shiite family in Beirut’s impoverished northern suburb of Sharshabouk, Nasrallah was later displaced to south Lebanon. He studied theology and joined the Amal movement, a Shiite political and paramilitary organisation, before becoming one of Hezbollah’s founders.

Hezbollah was formed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard members who came to Lebanon in the summer of 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces. It was the first group that Iran backed and used as a way to export its brand of political Islam.

Nasrallah built a power base as Hezbollah became part of a cluster of Iranian-backed factions and governments known as the Axis of Resistance.

Two days after its leader, 39-year-old Sayyed Abbas Musawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship raid in south Lebanon, Hezbollah chose Nasrallah as its secretary-general in February 1992.

Five years later, the United States designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.

Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah was credited with leading the war of attrition that led to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon in 2000, after an 18-year occupation. Nasrallah’s eldest son, Hadi, was killed in 1997, fighting against Israeli forces.

After Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Nasrallah rose to iconic status both within Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. His messages were beamed on Hezbollah’s own radio and satellite TV station.

That status was further cemented when, in 2006, Hezbollah fought Israel to a stalemate during the 34-day war.

When Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, Hezbollah fighters rushed in, siding with Assad’s forces — even though Hezbollah’s popularity took a dive as the Arab world ostracised Assad.

Hezbollah joins the Israel-Hamas war

A day after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7, Hezbollah began attacking Israeli military posts along the border calling it a “backup front” for Gaza.

In speeches throughout the conflict, he has argued that Hezbollah’s cross-border strikes had pulled away Israeli forces that would otherwise be focused on Hamas in Gaza and insisted that Hezbollah would not halt its attacks on Israel until a cease-fire is reached in Gaza.

Nasrallah has maintained a defiant tone, even as tensions rose dramatically in recent weeks with Israel announcing a new phase in the conflict intended to push Hezbollah back from the border to allow thousands displaced from northern Israel to return.

Israel launched strikes killing top military commanders with the group and was blamed for the explosion of thousands of communications devices, mainly used by Hezbollah members, that killed 37 people and wounded thousands.