Hassan Nasrallah
Third Secretary-General of Hezbollah (1992–2024)
Hassan Nasrallah (1960–2024) was a Lebanese Shia cleric who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah from 1992 until he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the group's underground headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on 27 September 2024.
Hassan Nasrallah (31 August 1960 – 27 September 2024) was a Lebanese Shia cleric, militant and politician who led Hezbollah as its third secretary-general from February 1992. Born in the Beirut suburb of Bourj Hammoud, he studied in Shia seminaries in Lebanon and Iraq and rose within Hezbollah after its founding in the early 1980s. He took over the movement following the killing of his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in an Israeli strike.
Over three decades, Nasrallah turned Hezbollah into the most heavily armed non-state actor in the Middle East and a dominant force in Lebanese politics, closely aligned with Iran. He was a central figure in the 2006 Lebanon War and in Hezbollah's intervention in Syria's civil war.
Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization in full by the United States and several other governments; the European Union designates its military wing. Nasrallah was killed on 27 September 2024 in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah's headquarters in the Dahieh district, amid the wider Israel–Hezbollah conflict. He was succeeded by deputy Naim Qassem.