Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, current secretary general of Hezbollah, has been the terrorist group's leader since 1992. Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah has waged a guerrilla war against Israeli military forces in South Lebanon and carried out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
In recent months, Nasrallah's threats against Israel have escalated. In February 2008, in the aftermath of the assassination of Hezbollah's military commander, Imad Mugniyah, in Syria, Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel and warned that the assassination will result in the "disappearance of the Jewish state." In March 2008, Nasrallah threatened Israel again when he told thousands of supporters at a rally marking the end of the 40-day mourning period of Mugniyah that "the Zionist entity can be wiped out of existence."
Nasrallah was the driving force behind Hezbollah's attacks against Israel in the summer of 2006. During Lebanon's celebrations of the 6th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon in May 2006, Nasrallah warned Israel that Hezbollah would answer any attack by firing thousands of rockets on all parts of Northern Israel. In July 2006, Hezbollah militants entered Israeli sovereign territory and killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others, beginning the 2006 Lebanon-Israel conflict. In response to Hezbollah's attack, Israel undertook the task of removing the Hezbollah threat from its border and crippling the military capabilities of the group. During the 34-day conflict Hezbollah fired about 4,000 rockets into Israel. At the end of the war, Nasrallah declared that Hezbollah had achieved "a strategic, historic victory."
Born in Beirut in 1960, Nasrallah moved to Najaf, an Iraqi city sacred to Shiite Muslims, to study Islam at the age of 15 under the supervision of Abbas Musawi, who would become his mentor and the future leader of Hezbollah. In 1978, Nasrallah was expelled from Saddam Hussein's regime and returned to Lebanon, where he joined the Amal movement, a militia established to promote the Shia cause in Lebanon, led by Musawi. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Nasrallah followed Musawi into Hezbollah as a guerilla commander.
In 1992, Nasrallah took over leadership of Hezbollah after the assassination of Musawi. Within weeks under his authority, Hezbollah carried out attacks against Jews outside Lebanon, including the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people. Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah also carried out the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community building in 1994, also in Buenos Aires, that killed 85. The group has also been connected to other attacks against Jewish targets in Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand, the U.K. and Argentina.
Nasrallah, whose popularity surged after Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, has also presided over Hezbollah as it has become increasingly politically active with representation in both the Lebanese parliament and cabinet.
Nasrallah: In His Own Words
"The Gaza war proved that Israel is the enemy of the world of Islam."
"Your 2006 war will be but a walk in the park compared to what we have prepared for you in the event of a new offensive. We are ready to sacrifice our souls, our brothers and sisters, our children, our loved ones for what we believe in."
"In front of the Zionist entity that is based on spilling the blood of the innocent and committing massacres, the least thing to do is not to give legitimacy to this entity regardless of the sacrifices… Not acknowledging Israel, rejecting normalization with it is the least that can be done."
"Israel is our enemy and the enemy of our nation. It will remain as such even if some make peace with it. The US administration fosters Israel and protects it, so this administration will remain our enemy and the enemy of our nation…"
January 7, 2009
"What is happening in Gaza will have repercussions not only for Gaza alone or Palestine, but for the entire umma. We must continue work and not be satisfied with an activity here, a demonstration there ... We must exert every effort to defend our people."
"... northern Israel will burn as Gaza is burning."
"What is happening today in Gaza is not similar but identical to what happened in July of 2006... It is the same choices, the same battle, the same conspiracies, and God willing there will be the same outcome."
December 28, 2008
"Palestine, from the sea to the river, is the property of Arabs and Palestinians and no one has the right to give up even a single grain of earth or one stone, because every grain of the land is holy. The entire land must be returned to its rightful owners."
September 26, 2008
"Could Israel be wiped out of existence? Yes, and a thousand times yes."
March 24, 2008
"Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, then let the entire world listen: Let it be an open war. We have a sacred right to self-defense and we will do everything this right entitles us to do to defend our country…"
"The July war is not over. It is ongoing and no ceasefire was ever declared."
"After they killed Hajj Imad, let them hear me well: In any coming war, not just one Imad Mughniyah will be waiting for you, and not just a few thousands fighters. Imad Mughniyah has left behind him tens of thousands of trained, equipped, and ready-for-martyrdom fighters."
"Mugniyah's blood will lead to the elimination of Israel. These words are not an emotional reaction."
"First, they, that is, the Zionists consider the martyrdom of Al-Hajj Imad a great achievement while we consider it great news, signaling the upcoming decisive and final victory, God willing."
"…let the whole world note - and I take responsibility for this - that we should start writing the history of the phase which signals the beginning of the collapse of the State of Israel."
"The consequences of shedding the blessed, pure blood of Hajj Imad Mughniyah, Shaykh Raghib, Al-Sayyid Abbas, Fathi al-Shaqaqi, Ahmad Yasin, and the other martyrs, leaders, and mujahadeen will destroy this cancerous, usurper entity which has been planted in the heart of our Arab and Islamic nation."
February 14, 2008
"We are going to an open war, to Haifa and beyond Haifa. We will not be the only ones who will lose their children and houses."
July 14, 2006
"To the Zionists, to the people of the Zionist entity at this hour I say to them: you will soon discover how foolish and stupid are your new rulers, your new leaders…Not only our houses will be destroyed. Not only our children will be killed. Not only our people will be displaced. Those days are past. That was how it was before 1982, and before the year 2000."
July 14, 2006
"Our operation succeeded, we have results and honor. We kept our promise to kidnap soldiers [to secure] the release of prisoners, and therefore are calling the attack 'Operation Promise Fulfilled'"
July 12, 2006
"The international community is not concerned with protecting the interests of the Palestinians, Lebanese or Arabs in general. They only serve Israeli and American schemes currently targeting Syria, Lebanon and Palestine."
October 28, 2005
"We are among the biggest proponents of peace, stability and national unity. We don't seek to attack anyone and we will not allow anyone to attack Lebanon…But, if anyone thinks of disarming the resistance, we would cut off any hand that reaches out to our weapons as an Israeli hand."
May 25, 2005
"If they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."
October 22, 2002
"[Israel is] a cancer that needs to be removed at its roots."
December 22, 2000
"Our weapons, our blood and our rockets are all yours too, and we will we stay with you until we can pray with you at the Al-Aqsa mosque in united Jerusalem, capital of all of Palestine!"
Addressing a gathering of the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad
December 22, 2000
"The road to victory is the road of martyrdom….The most important operations in the confrontation are suicide missions, because of their negative material, psychological, and moral effect on the enemy and their positive effect on the mujahideen (holy warriors)."
Encouraging Palestinians to use suicide bombings against Israelis
October 28, 2000
