Al-Sayyid Ḥasan Naṣrallāh (b. August 31, 1960, d. September 27, 2024), was a Lebanese Shia cleric and the Secretary General of Hezbollah, the Shia Islamic political and military organization in Lebanon. During his studies in Najaf, he made a good relationship with al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and al-Sayyid Abbas al-Musawi which involved him in the battles against Zionist occupiers.
He was in charge of administrative apparatus of Hezbollah for a while, but after the martyrdom of al-Sayyid Abbas al-Musawi, he became the Secretary General of this organization. Nasrallah led Hezbollah for more than three decades. He was elected secretary-general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged 32 after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor, Sayyed Abbas al-Musawi.
Under his leadership, Hezbollah became an influential power in the region, and subsequently they managed to force the Israeli army to retreat from Lebanon in 2000 as well as releasing a number of their prisoners. Because of the threat of assassination attempts, Hasan Nasrallah rarely appeared in public places. His son, Sayyid Hadi Nasrallah, was martyred in 1997 in a battle against Israeli army. Hasan Nasrallah was a member of the Supreme Council of Ahl al-Bayt (a) World Assembly.
Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah embraced martyrdom in the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburb, Dahiyeh, on Friday, the 27th of September 2024 A.D. (the 23th of Rabī al-Awwal 1446 A.H.)
Ayatollah Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a message on the martyrdom of the great warrior and flag-bearer of the resistance, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, offered his felicitations and condolences on the martyrdom of the exceptional leader of Hezbollah to the entire Resistance Front and the Islamic Ummah and announced five days of national mourning in the country. The foundation he established in Lebanon and the direction he gave to other centres of power will not only remain intact with the loss of the dear Master of Resistance, but by the blessing of his blood and that of the other martyrs of this event, it will grow stronger. The blows of the Resistance Front on the worn-out and declining body of the Zionist regime will become more crushing.
The text of the message from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution is as follows:
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Indeed, we belong to God, and indeed, to Him, we shall return.
Dear nation of Iran,
Great Islamic Ummah,
The great warrior, the flag-bearer of resistance in the region, the virtuous religious scholar, and the wise political leader, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, may God be pleased with him, attained the blessing of martyrdom in the events of last night in Lebanon and ascended to the heavenly realm. The dear Master of Resistance received the reward for decades of jihad in the way of God and its hardships during a sacred struggle. He was martyred while busy planning to defend the defenceless people of the Dahieh neighbourhood in Beirut and their destroyed homes and beloved ones who had fallen. Just as for decades, he had planned, strategised, and fought for the oppressed people of Palestine, their occupied towns and villages, their destroyed homes, and their massacred loved ones. The blessing of martyrdom was his rightful due after all this struggle.
The Islamic world has lost a great personality; the Resistance Front has lost a prominent flag-bearer, and Hezbollah in Lebanon has lost an unparalleled leader, but the blessings of his decades-long strategy and struggle will never be lost. The foundation he established in Lebanon and the direction he provided to other centres of resistance will not only remain intact with his absence but will become even stronger by the blessing of his blood and that of the other martyrs in this incident. The blows of the Resistance Front on the worn-out and declining body of the Zionist regime will, by God's grace and power, become more crushing. The wicked spirit of the Zionist regime has not achieved victory by this incident.
The Master of Resistance was not just a person; he was a path and a school of thought, and this path will continue. The blood of martyr Sayyid Abbas Mousavi did not go to waste, and the blood of martyr Sayyid Hassan will not go to waste either.
I extend my felicitations and condolences to the honourable father and esteemed wife of the dear Sayyid, who has already lost his son Sayyid Hadi in the way of God, as well as to his esteemed children, the families of the martyrs of this event, each member of Hezbollah, the dear people and high officials of Lebanon, the entire Resistance Front, and the Islamic Ummah as a whole, on the martyrdom of the great Nasrallah and his martyred companions. I announce five days of national mourning in Islamic Iran. May God reunite them with their righteous predecessors.
And peace be upon the righteous servants of God.
Sayyid Ali Khamenei
28th September 2024
