Hezbollah reckons with future amid Beirut strikes | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
June 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2025
Hezbollah reckons with future amid Beirut strikes

Middle East

Reuters
28 September, 2024, 11:20 am
Last modified: 28 September, 2024, 11:23 am

Related News

  • In Photos: Sea of people flood Suhrawardy Udyan in solidarity with Gaza
  • Israel kills Hezbollah official in deadly Beirut airstrike
  • Truce shaky as Israel strikes Lebanon in response to rocket fire
  • Massive crowds mourn Hezbollah's slain leader Nasrallah
  • Tens of thousands mourn Hezbollah's slain leader Nasrallah in mass funeral

Hezbollah reckons with future amid Beirut strikes

A source close to Hezbollah said Nasrallah was still alive after the attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, on Friday evening. A senior Iranian security official said Tehran was checking on Nasrallah's status

Reuters
28 September, 2024, 11:20 am
Last modified: 28 September, 2024, 11:23 am
Boys scouts carry a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, after hand-held radios and pagers used by Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon September 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
Boys scouts carry a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, after hand-held radios and pagers used by Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon September 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

Killing or incapacitating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would deal a significant blow to the Iran-backed Lebanese group he has led for 32 years, analysts said on Friday after reports Israel targeted him with a strike.

A source close to Hezbollah said Nasrallah was still alive after the attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, on Friday evening. A senior Iranian security official said Tehran was checking on Nasrallah's status.

Replacing Nasrallah would be an even bigger challenge now than at any point for years, after a series of recent Israeli attacks that have killed top Hezbollah commanders and raised questions over its internal security.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"The whole landscape would change big time," said Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy research director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

"He has been the glue that has held together an expanding organisation," Hage Ali said.

Hezbollah, which was formed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the early 1980s to battle Israel, is also a major social, religious and political movement for Lebanese Shi'ite Muslims, with Nasrallah at its heart.

"He became a legendary figure, kind of, for the Lebanese Shia," said Hage Ali.

Nasrallah himself became Hezbollah leader when Israel killed his predecessor and he has been at constant risk of assassination ever since.

"You kill one, they get a new one," said a European diplomat of the group's approach.

However, amid a sudden series of Israeli successes in its war against Hezbollah and an onslaught of air strikes, his death would greatly aggravate an already fraught moment for the group.

"Hezbollah will not collapse if Nasrallah is killed or incapacitated, but this will be a major blow to the group's morale. It would also underline Israel's security and military superiority and access," said Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at the Chatham House policy institute in London.

The potential impact of Nasrallah's death on Hezbollah's military capabilities is also unclear. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for a year across the Lebanese border in their worst conflict since 2006, triggered by the war in Gaza.

"Israel will want to translate this pressure into a new status quo in which its north is secure, but this will not happen quickly even if Nasrallah is eliminated," Khatib said.

Hezbollah claimed several rocket attacks on Israel in the hours after the Beirut strike in what analysts said was an effort to show it could still carry out such operations after Israel said it targeted Hezbollah's command centre.

"Israel has declared war. It is a full-scale war, and Israel is using this opportunity to eliminate the leadership structure and destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure," said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.

"They are breaking Hezbollah's power. There's no need to kill every member of Hezbollah but if you destroy its combat structure and force them to surrender. It loses credibility," Gerges said.

SUCCESSORS

Any new leader would have to be acceptable both within the organisation in Lebanon but also to its backers in Iran, said Philip Smyth, an expert on Shi'ite militias.

The man widely regarded as Nasrallah's heir, Hashem Safieddine, was also still alive after Friday's attack, the source close to Hezbollah said.

Safieddine, who oversees Hezbollah's political affairs and sits on the group's Jihad Council, is a cousin of Nasrallah and like him is a cleric who wears the black turban denoting descent from Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

The US State Department designated him a terrorist in 2017 and in June he threatened a big escalation against Israel after the killing of another Hezbollah commander. "Let (the enemy) prepare himself to cry and wail," he said at the funeral.

Nasrallah "started tailoring positions for him within a variety of different councils within Lebanese Hezbollah. Some of them were more opaque than others. They've had him come, go out and speak," said Smyth.

Safieddine's family ties and physical resemblance to Nasrallah as well as his religious status as a descendent of Mohammed would all count in his favour, Smyth said.

World+Biz

Israel-Lebanon / Middle East crisis / Hezbollah / Hassan Nasrallah

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus speaks at the Chatham House in London on 11 June 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    No desire to be part of next elected govt: CA Yunus
  • File photo of BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    Khasru flies to London ahead of Yunus-Tarique meeting

MOST VIEWED

  • Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS
    Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • A file photo of Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur. Photo: Collected
    'I have no relation with this': Ahsan Mansur debunks Joy’s allegations over daughter’s Dubai flat
  • Faiz Ahmad Tayeb. Photo: BSS
    Import duty on raw materials for e-bikes, lithium batteries reduced from 80% to 1% in some cases: Faiz Taiyeb
  • File photo of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Photo: Collected
    Joy spends Eid with Hasina in India: Indian media
  • Mercantile Bank withholds dividend amid Tk1,700cr provision shortfall
    Mercantile Bank withholds dividend amid Tk1,700cr provision shortfall
  • Shakil Ahmed. Photo: Collected
    DU student allegedly hangs himself following threats over old derogatory comment about Prophet on Facebook

Related News

  • In Photos: Sea of people flood Suhrawardy Udyan in solidarity with Gaza
  • Israel kills Hezbollah official in deadly Beirut airstrike
  • Truce shaky as Israel strikes Lebanon in response to rocket fire
  • Massive crowds mourn Hezbollah's slain leader Nasrallah
  • Tens of thousands mourn Hezbollah's slain leader Nasrallah in mass funeral

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

10h | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

1d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

2d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

4d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Why is Omicron XBB more contagious?

Why is Omicron XBB more contagious?

6h | TBS Stories
What did Dr. Yunus say at the Chatham House Dialogue in London?

What did Dr. Yunus say at the Chatham House Dialogue in London?

7h | TBS Today
News of The Day, 11 JUNE 2025

News of The Day, 11 JUNE 2025

9h | TBS News of the day
WB predicts worst decade for global growth since 60s

WB predicts worst decade for global growth since 60s

10h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net