Charismatic and Smart: A Look at Longtime Hezbollah Leader Hassan Narallah

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has led the Lebanese militant group for the past three decades, turning it into one of the most powerful paramilitary groups in the Middle East.

Israeli airstrikes on Friday afternoon failed six buildings in Beirut The southern suburb of Harek Hreik was the largest attack in the Lebanese capital in nearly a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the attack, which killed and injured dozens of people, hit the headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut. This is what three major Israeli television channels said Nasrallah was the target of the attacks in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was not officially confirmed by Israel. Hezbollah officials did not comment.

Here's a look at the fiery, charismatic leader:

Who is Hassan Nasrallah?

Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Nasrallah, Hezbollah has waged wars against Israel and participated in the conflict in neighboring Syria, helping to shift the balance of power in favor of President Bashar al-Assad.

A charismatic and shrewd strategist, Nasrallah transformed Hezbollah into an arch-enemy of Israel and cemented alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.

Nasrallah is idolized by his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world. He bears the title Sayyid, an honorary title that is intended to mark the Shiite cleric's line of descent, which goes back to the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

A passionate speaker who is considered an extremist in the United States and much of the West, he is also seen as a pragmatist compared to the fiery militants who dominated Hezbollah during the Lebanese civil war after its founding in 1982.

Despite the power he wields, Nasrallah has lived largely in secret in recent years out of fear of an Israeli assassination attempt.

How he came to power

Nasrallah was born in 1960 to a poor Shiite family in Beirut's impoverished northern suburb of Sharshabouk and later expelled to southern Lebanon. He studied theology and joined the Amal Movement, a Shiite political and paramilitary organization, before becoming one of the founders of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah was founded by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who came to Lebanon in the summer of 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces. It was the first group that Iran supported and used as an opportunity to export its political Islam.

Nasrallah built a power base as Hezbollah over time became part of a group of Iranian-backed factions and governments known as the “Axis of Resistance.”

In February 1992, two days after its leader, 39-year-old Sayyed Abbas Musawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah elected Nasrallah as its general secretary.

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

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

After Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Nasrallah achieved cult status both in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. His messages were broadcast on Hezbollah's own radio and satellite television channels.

This status was further cemented when Hezbollah fought Israel until a stalemate during the 34-day war in 2006.

When Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, Hezbollah fighters rushed to the side of Assad's forces – even as Hezbollah's popularity declined as Assad was ostracized in the Arab world.

His role in the current conflict

A day after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, Hezbollah began attacking Israeli military posts along the border, calling them a “surrogate front” for Gaza.

In his speeches throughout the conflict, he argued that Hezbollah's cross-border attacks had diverted Israeli forces that would otherwise have been focused on Hamas in Gaza, and insisted that Hezbollah would not stop its attacks on Israel until a ceasefire has been reached in Gaza.

He continued to strike a defiant tone in recent weeks as tensions rose dramatically as Israel announced a new phase of the conflict aimed at pushing Hezbollah back from the border to allow thousands of displaced people from northern Israel to return.

It launched attacks and killed the group's senior military commanders and was blamed for the explosion of thousands of communications devices used mostly by Hezbollah members, killing 37 people and wounding thousands.