Ghassan ben jeddou hassan nasrallah biography

He rose through the military ranks of Hezbollah in the late s, fighting both Israeli forces and his former group, Amal. With Nasrallah at its helm, Hezbollah established a more extremist line against Israel and the U. When Israel pulled out of Lebanon in , Nasrallah and Hezbollah were widely credited in the Arab World as bringing to an end the Israeli occupation, a belief that helped the organization spread its virulently anti-Israel sentiments across a much wider spectrum.

In , Nasrallah played a key role in negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel in which hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners were freed by Israel in exchange for the bodies of three IDF soldiers missing since October and one Israeli businessman abducted that same month. Nasrallah remained hidden from the public since the Second Lebanon War except for periodic speeches for fear of Israeli assassination attempts.

An agreement was eventually reached whereby Israel ended its attacks in Lebanon and Hezbollah agreed to stop attacks on northern Israel. After a short pause, hostilities resumed. In Israel launched Operation Grapes of Wrath , blocking important Lebanese harbour cities and bombing a Syrian military base. Again, Hezbollah agreed to stop rocket attacks in exchange for Israel halting its attacks.

As in , the peace did not last for long. In September , Nasrallah's public image changed dramatically with his speech about the news of his eldest son's killing by Israeli forces, along with his visits to other mourning families. Nasrallah's reaction became a media event that "served to bring Lebanese nationals together as a collective" and cast Nasrallah "as an extraordinarily selfless leader and an organic leader with deep roots in popular culture.

In Israel, it was increasingly debated whether the presence of Israeli forces in southern Lebanon was working, since it was clear that the 'security zone' could not stop Hezbollah rockets reaching into Israel. After heavy Israeli casualties in south Lebanon, some Israeli politicians argued that the conflict would only end if Israel withdrew from Lebanon.

In , Ehud Barak withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon. That success against Israel greatly increased Hezbollah's popularity within Lebanon and the Islamic world. As a result, Nasrallah was credited in Lebanon and the Arab world for ending the Israeli occupation of the South of Lebanon , something which has greatly bolstered the party's political standing within Lebanon.

The agreement was described across the Arab world as a magnificent victory for Hezbollah, and Nasrallah was personally praised for achieving these gains. A December article in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat said that command of the organization's military wing was transferred from Nasrallah to his deputy, Na'im Qasim in August Under his tenure, Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization , either wholly or in part, by the United States and other nations, as well as by the European Union.

Hezbollah agreed to disarm upon the return of its prisoners and the occupied Shebaa Farms. The Free Patriotic Movement in turn agreed to work for reform of the confessional electoral system of the Parliament of Lebanon and move it in the direction of one man, one vote. Aoun made the point that the political process was in effect disarming Hezbollah without any loss in lives from unnecessary wars.

Following an ambush by Hezbollah in Israeli territory that left three soldiers dead and two abducted, [ 30 ] the Lebanon War started.

Ghassan ben jeddou hassan nasrallah biography

During the war Israeli bombardments seeking Hezbollah targets caused damage in many parts of Beirut, especially the poorer and largely Shiite South Beirut, which is controlled by Hezbollah. He added that Hezbollah forces were inflicting heavy casualties on Israeli ground troops. During the conflict, Nasrallah came under intense criticism from Arab countries, including Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Nasrallah also came under intense criticism from some in Lebanon. Walid Jumblatt , leader of the Progressive Socialist Party PSP and the most prominent leader of the Druze community, spoke out quite forcefully: "Great, so he's a hero. But I'd like to challenge this heroism of his. I have the right to challenge it, because my country is in flames.

Besides, we did not agree". At the end of the war, Nasrallah's speech solidified his public image as a "charismatic leader in the media age," according to Dina Matar, a scholar of Arab media. The speech made him a "symbol of pan-Arab national heroism" and it included this appeal to the Lebanese nation:. Our victory is not the victory of the party Your resistance, which offered in the victory a model for liberation, offered in the year a model for steadfastness; legendary steadfastness and miraculous steadfastness.

It is strong proof for all Arabs and Muslims, and all rulers, armies and peoples The Lebanese resistance provided strong proof to all Arab and Islamic armies What is known as the "Green Flood" Al-sayl al-akhdhar came after the war, according to Iranian-born journalist Amir Taheri. The dollars from Iran are ferried to Beirut via Syria and distributed through networks of militants.

In a TV interview aired on Lebanon's New TV station on 27 August , Nasrallah said that he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war: "We do not think, even one percent, that the capture led to a war at this time and of this magnitude. I'm convinced and sure that this war was planned and that the capture of these hostages was just their excuse to start their pre-planned war, but if I had known on July I say no, absolutely not".

On 15 October , Iraqi news source Almalaf, reported that Nasrallah had been poisoned the previous week, quoting sources in Lebanon, and that he was saved by Iranian doctors who went to Lebanon to treat him. The sources told the paper that a particularly poisonous chemical substance was used against the Shia militia leader. His medical condition was apparently critical for several days until Iranian doctors came and managed to save his life.

Almalaf claimed that the sources believed it was highly likely that the poisoning was an Israeli assassination attempt. Hezbollah denied that Nasrallah had been poisoned. It's true that I haven't seen Nasrallah this past week, but he's okay. According to Almalaf, officials considered flying Nasrallah to Iran for further treatment. On 25 October , in an interview with the Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar channel, Nasrallah denied the assassination attempt, accusing the Israelis and Americans of fabricating the story and considering it as part of the ongoing psychological war against Hezbollah that aimed to imply that the party was suffering from internal disputes and assassination plots.

Nasrallah also said that "if research was done on the internet websites posting such unfounded information, it would reveal that they are all being run from that same dark room, and that their aim is to serve American-Israeli interests. On 25 May , Nasrallah announced that Hezbollah is fighting in the Syrian civil war against " Islamist extremists" and "pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas that border Lebanon".

In July , Nasrallah's nephew was killed fighting in Syria. In his anti-Israel statements, Nasrallah has called for the end of the State of Israel, and opposed reconciliation, as the only path to justice.. Despite declaring " death to Israel " and " death to America " in his public appearances, Nasrallah said in an interview to The New Yorker in "At the end of the road, no one can go to war on behalf of the Palestinians, even if that one is not in agreement with what the Palestinians agreed on.

Lebanese writer, Amal Saad-Ghorayeb quotes Hassan Nasrallah as saying, "If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli. In a speech marking the Day of Ashura , and published in what was Hassan Nasrallah's official website [ 53 ] [ 54 ] [ 55 ] at that time, Nasrallah referred to Israel as "the state of the grandsons of apes and pigs — the Zionist Jews" and condemned them as "the murderers of the prophets.

They want security and money. Throughout history the Jews have been Allah's most cowardly and avaricious creatures. If you look all over the world, you will find no one more miserly or greedy than they are. Journalist Badih Chayban in a 23 October article in The Daily Star wrote that Nasrallah said, "If they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.

Glass also wrote that a Hezbollah spokeswoman, Wafa Hoteit, denied that Nasrallah made the statement. While reading the party's new political manifesto in , Nasrallah disavowed opposition to Jews, only to Israel: "Our problem with [the Israelis] is not that they are Jews, but that they are occupiers who are raping our land and holy places.

Therefore we condemned this act—and any similar act we condemn I said nothing about the Pentagon, meaning we remain silent. We neither favored nor opposed that act Well, of course, the method of Osama bin Laden, and the fashion of bin Laden, we do not endorse them. And many of the operations that they have carried out, we condemned them very clearly.

While calling for the "liberation" of Jerusalem and mentioning Israel as a "Zionist existence", he called the attacks of Hamas on Israel on 7 October a heroic operation. Nasrallah had said that Hezbollah's missile and drone attacks against northern Israel, which began immediately after 7 October, were carried out in solidarity with the Palestinians.

According to Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya, a video posted on their site is of Nasrallah giving a speech circa in which he states, "Our plan, to which we, as faithful believers, have no alternative, is to establish an Islamic state Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic, governed by the Master of Time [the Mahdi ], and his rightful deputy, the Jurisprudent Ruler , Imam Khomeini ," [ 68 ].

I am sure there are millions of Muslims who are ready to give their lives to defend our prophet's honour and we have to be ready to do anything for that. But that kind of behavior and that kind of mistreatment of holy books [referring to the Quran burning incident in Afghanistan in February ] [ 70 ] and prophets, and the prophets' sanctities, and others' sanctities; this behavior is Israeli and let us say it is Jewish, between quotation marks—now they will say that this is anti-Semitism—[but] the Holy Quran told us about this people: how they attacked their prophets, and how they killed their prophets, and how they affronted their prophets, and how they affronted Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, and how they affronted Mary, peace be upon her, and how they affronted Allah's great messenger Mohammad, May God exalt and bring peace upon him and his family.

This [behavior] pattern about affronting holy books, and prophets, and messengers, and sanctities; this is their mentality, and maybe they want to push things more and more toward a religious war worldwide. There is Lebanese consensus on this On the evening of 27 September , the Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike on Hezbollah's headquarters in Dahieh , reportedly targeting Nasrallah.

The Economist wrote that his death would "reshape" Lebanon and the Middle East in ways which "would have been unthinkable a year ago" and that the next leader of Hezbollah would face the "most precarious moment" in the organization's history owing to Israel's destruction of almost their entire leadership. The Economist felt the Lebanese public perceived the group as "humiliated" and had come to resent their domination of Lebanese politics.

Like many others, Nasrallah was induced to complete his studies in Najaf, in Iraq. Nasrallah had attracted the attention of Muhammad al-Gharawi, the Imam of the local mosque. Gharawi wrote a letter of recommendation to Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, one of the leading clerics in the Shiite seminary hawza of Najaf. Musawi was a member of Sheikh Fadlalah's breakaway Dawa party, which was the ideological precursor of the Hezbollah.

Nasrallah and Musawi returned to Lebanon in after Iraqi authorities expelled the Lebanese Shi'ites studying there. However, Nasrallah remained in the Amal movement for a while. Nasrallah was selected as Amal's political delegate in Beqaa, and became a member of the central political office. After the Israeli invasion in , Nasrallah joined Hezbollah to dedicate himself to the resistance of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley.

When the Israeli's left, Lebanon plunged into civil war. Hezbollah fought Amal for leadership of the Shi'ites,. In , Hezbollah forces under Nasrallah's scored victories over the Amal militia in the southwestern suburbs of Beirut. After Syria occupied Lebanon and stopped the war, Nasrallah traveled to Iran and resumed his theological studies at the seminary of Qom.

This got him away from the watchful eyes of the Syrians, amd also stemmed from his recognition that proper Iranian religious credentials were as important as military prowess in assuming a greater leadership role within Hezbollah. In , fighting between Hezbollah and Amal began anew. Nasrallah returned to Lebanon, leading Hezbollah forces successfully against Amal in the Iqlim al-Toufah region of south Lebanon.

He was lightly wounded in battle, adding to his prestige. Hezbollah's leadership was deeply fractured. A more moderate faction, led by Musawi advocated acceptance of the Taif Accords abandoning Hezbollah's declared goal of establishing an Islamic theocracy and acceptance of Syrian hegemony in Lebanon. Musawi's faction, backed by Fadlallah, also favored releasingf Western hostages held by Hezbollah and focusing on combating Israel.

A second faction, headed by Nasrallah and Sayyid Ibrahim al-Amin, advocated rejection of the Taif Accord and unrelenting hostility toward the United States. Arab Television Today. London: I. ISBN As Safir in Arabic. Archived from the original on 17 August Retrieved 2 October Al Manar. Retrieved 12 June AJC News. Associated Press.

Al Akhbar. Arabian Business.