US President Joe Biden
US President Joe Biden on Saturday described the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a way to end his four-decade reign of terror. Biden said Nasrallah was targeted in the broader context of the conflict, which began with a massacre of Israelis by Hamas on October 7, 2023. “The day after (that attack), Nasrallah made the unfortunate decision to cooperate with Hamas and open a northern front against “Israel.” He added that Hezbollah, under the leadership of Nasrallah, is killing thousands of civilians, and Americans are responsible for the deaths.
Hassan Nasrallah, the organization’s leader who played an important role in transforming the Lebanese extremist group Hezbollah into a powerful paramilitary and political force in West Asia, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Nasrallah, 64, led Hezbollah’s war against Israel in 2006. Under his leadership, the group participated in the brutal conflict in neighboring Syria.
Death in Beirut
The organization’s leader was killed in an Israeli air strike on Haret Hreik, a southern suburb of Beirut, and many of the high-rise buildings in which he lived collapsed in the attack. Hezbollah said in a statement, “Hezbollah Secretary-General, Mr. Hassan Nasrallah, joined his companions, the great martyrs, whom he led from victory to victory over a period of 30 years.” Nasrallah assumed leadership of Hezbollah after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli missile attack in 1992 and led the organization for three decades. Five years after assuming leadership, the United States declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
More than 700 deaths in Lebanon
Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies were detonated in various parts of Lebanon, mainly targeting Hezbollah members, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000 others. Lebanon held Israel responsible for this, but Israel did not bear responsibility and did not deny it. Nasrallah pledged to respond. Israeli raids on Lebanon killed more than 700 people over five days, according to Lebanese officials, including at least 150 women and children. Nasrallah threatened that the bombing on his part would continue and that the Israelis would not be able to return to their homes in the north until the Israeli campaign on Gaza ended.
Nasrallah was given the title of Mr
Supporters considered Nasrallah a charismatic figure and a skilled strategist. He has turned Hezbollah into an arch enemy of Israel and strengthened its alliance with Iran’s top religious leaders and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas. He was an icon among his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions throughout the Arab and Islamic world. He was given the title of Sayyid, an honorary title meant to reflect the Shiite cleric’s lineage, which goes back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
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