Hezbollah Marks One Year Since Nasrallah’s Assassination by Israel

Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah will on Saturday commemorate the first anniversary of the killing of its then-leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel—an event that triggered a war which ultimately shattered the once-powerful movement and devastated large parts of Lebanon.

On the evening of September 27, 2024, Nasrallah was killed when Israeli bunker-busting bombs struck Hezbollah’s compound in Beirut’s southern suburbs. For more than three decades, he had led the influential Shi’ite religious, political, and military group.

His death, and the war that followed, dealt a heavy blow to the Iran-backed movement. His successor, Hashem Safieddine, was assassinated just weeks later. By December, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—Hezbollah’s key ally—had been toppled, and mounting international pressure was demanding the group’s disarmament, a call Hezbollah has firmly rejected.

Nasrallah, who became Hezbollah’s secretary-general in 1992 at the age of 35 after his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike, was long the movement’s defining figure. Through fiery speeches, he emerged as the face of a group founded in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli occupation forces.

He was at the helm when Hezbollah fighters forced Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation. In 2006, following a 34-day war with Israel, he proclaimed a “divine victory,” earning admiration across the Arab world among those who saw Israel’s army beaten back.

Over the years, Hezbollah became Lebanon’s most dominant political and military power, while expanding its regional role as the spearhead of Iran’s “axis of resistance”—fighting in Syria on Assad’s behalf and training Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The group opened fire on Israel from southern Lebanon on October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas launched its deadly cross-border attack. That escalation led to nearly a year of cross-border exchanges, culminating in Israel’s intensified campaign: detonating Hezbollah’s explosives-rigged communications devices, launching airstrikes, and sending ground forces into southern Lebanon.

Israel’s offensive killed more than 4,000 people, including over 300 children. Despite a ceasefire, deadly Israeli strikes in Lebanon have continued.

Nasrallah’s burial was delayed for months due to the scale of Israel’s air and ground operations. Since then, his followers, including his son, have flocked to his grave to pay their respects.

Large crowds are expected this weekend across Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs. Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem—who assumed leadership a month after Nasrallah’s killing—is scheduled to deliver a speech.

Tensions surrounding the commemoration have risen this week, particularly after Hezbollah projected images of Nasrallah and Safieddine onto Beirut’s iconic seaside cliffs. The display went ahead despite orders from Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Beirut’s governor to cancel it, sparking anger among Hezbollah’s domestic opponents who argued the landmark should not be used for political propaganda.