Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that Hezbollah’s secretary general was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking the information.
Nasrallah’s supporters praised him for daring to stand up to Israel and the United States. To his opponents, he is the leader of a terrorist organization. Its regional influence was clear during the nearly year-long conflict that began with the Gaza war, when Hezbollah became involved, shelling Israel from southern Lebanon. In this way, he supported his Palestinian ally Hamas, and Yemeni and Iraqi groups followed suit, operating under the umbrella of the “Axis of Resistance”.
“We are facing a major battle,” Nasrallah said in a speech in August at the funeral of Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Beirut.
Nasrallah is recognized even by his enemies as a charismatic speaker, and his speeches are followed by friends and foes alike. Wearing the black turban of a sayyed, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Nasrallah united Hezbollah’s ranks, but also issued carefully worded threats, often simply by raising a finger.
