Hassan Nasrallah is the third and current Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary party Hezbollah since his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was martyred by the Israel Defense Forces in February 1992. Nasrallah is often referred to as "al-Sayyid Hassan" the honorific "Sayyid" denoting descent from the Islamic prophet Hazrat Muhammad (saaw) through his grandson Imam Husain ibn Ali (as).

Hasan Nasrallah was born the ninth of ten children into a Shia family in Bourj Hammoud, Matn District (an eastern suburb of Beirut) on 31 August 1960. His father, Abdul Karim Nasrallah, was born in Bazourieh, a village in Jabal Amel (South Republic of Lebanon) located near Tyre. Hassan Nasrallah's father ran a small grocery store. He was the oldest of three brothers and five sisters. As a boy Nasrallah was an earnest student of Islam. Although his family was not particularly religious, Hassan was interested in theological studies. He attended the al-Najah school and later a public school in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Sin el Fil Beirut.

In 1975, the Lebanese Civil War forced the family, including Nasrallah who was 15 at the time, to move to their ancestral home in Bazourieh, where Nasrallah completed his secondary education at the public school of Sour (Tyre). There he attended secondary school, and briefly joined the Amal Movement, a Lebanese Shi'a political group.

Nasrallah studied at the Shi'a seminary in the Beqaa Valley town of Baalbek. The school followed the teachings of Iraqi-born Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, who founded the Dawa movement in Najaf, Iraq during the early 1960s.

Sayyed Nasrallah used to lead worshipers at prayer times in Tyre mosque. It was there where he met the religious authority and scholar Mohammed al-Gharaway, who had been assigned by Imam al-Sadr to fill his place in Tyre; Sayyed Nasrallah shared his wish to go to the Educational Hawza in Najaf. Soon afterward he left for Najaf, Iraq, to study at the Shiite seminary there.

Saddam Hussein was expelling many Shia's, including Khomeini and Abbas Musawi in 1978. Following the expulsion of hundreds of Lebanese students from Iraq in that year, he returned to Lebanon in 1979. Back in Lebanon, he studied and taught at the school of Amal’s leader Abbas al-Musawi, later being selected as Amal's political delegate in Beqaa, and making him a member of the central political office. Around the same time, in 1980, Saddam Hussein had Sadr executed.

Nasrallah joined Hezbollah after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Nasrallah rose through Hezbollah’s ranks, and in 1988, when tensions with Amal flared, Nasrallah fought on the front lines. In 1989, Hassan Nasrallah traveled to Qom, Iran, where he furthered his religious studies.

Nasrallah believes that Islam holds the solution to the problems of any society, once saying, "With respect to us, briefly, Islam is not a simple religion including only prayers and praises, rather it is a divine message that was designed for humanity, and it can answer any question man might ask concerning his general and personal life. Islam is a religion designed for a society that can revolt and build a community."

In 1991, Abbas al-Musawi became secretary general of Hezbollah and Nasrallah returned to Lebanon. He assumed leadership of Hezbollah in 1992 after his predecessor, Sheikh Abbas al-Musawi, was killed by an Israeli missile. As a leader and cleric, Nasrallah relied on charisma and subtle charm to express his message. He was not a fiery or intimidating speaker. Rather, he came across as thoughtful, humble, and at times humorous. He emphasized the importance of Arab dignity and honour.

Nasrallah lived in South Beirut with his wife Fatimah Yasin (who comes from the Lebanese village of Al-Abbasiyah) and five children: Muhammad Hadi (died 1997), Muhammad Javed, Zainab, Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Mahdi. In September 1997, his eldest son Muhammad Hadi, was killed in battle with Israeli soldiers, after a Navy commando unit operation in which 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Jabal al-Rafei in the South of Lebanon.

During Sayyed Nasrallah's Party Secretariat, the Islamic Resistance fought a number of heroic confrontations with the occupation army. The most significant of these confrontations was "Settling the Account" war in July 1993, "Grapes of Wrath" war in April 1996, through to the great historic achievement of liberating the greater part of Lebanese territory on May 25, 2000, arriving at the historic and strategic victory in 2006. He continues to exercise the Secretariat duties today.

Under Sayyed Nasrallah's leadership, Hizbullah plunged widely into the midst of internal political life in Lebanon and participated in parliamentary elections in 1992. It was the first parliamentary elections to be held after the end of the civil war in Lebanon. Hizbullah's important election victory brought 12 of its members into the Lebanese Parliament; they formed the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc. Hizbullah also plunged into Ministerial work in 2005, with two Ministers in the Cabinet, Dr Trad Hamadeh and Hajj Mohammad Fneich.

On 25 May 2013, Sayyed Nasrallah announced that Hezbollah is fighting in the Syrian War against "Islamist extremists" and "pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas that border Lebanon". He confirmed that Hezbollah was fighting in the strategic Syrian town of Qusair on the same side as the Syrian army. In the televised address, he said, "If Syria falls in the hands of America, Israel and the takfiris, the people of our region will go into a dark period."

In July 2014, Nasrallah's nephew was killed fighting in Syria

SOURCES:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Nasrallah

2. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hassan-Nasrallah

3. https://english.alahednews.com.lb/essaydetails.php?eid=5523&cid=511#.Wkszvssyr58