Timeline of evil: Nasrallah’s death ends three-decade global trail of bloodshed
Under his leadership, Hezbollah grew into an international network that carried out terror attacks killing hundreds of Jews, Israelis and US troops, and massacred thousands of Syrians
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in his underground headquarters during a massive Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday, is primarily remembered in Israel for his role in the 2006 Second Lebanon War and, most recently and notoriously, for initiating hostilities against the Jewish state on October 8 in support of Hamas.
However, Nasrallah’s terror activities extended far beyond Israeli borders. Over the three decades of his leadership of the terror organization, he orchestrated a wide range of deadly attacks, targeting not only Israelis and Jews but also dozens of US troops, and participating in the massacres of tens of thousands of Syrian civilians.
The Shiite terror organization, founded in 1982 after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, had already risen to international notoriety before Nasrallah took its helm.
In 1983, it masterminded two devastating suicide truck bombings in Beirut against the US embassy and the barracks of French and American peacekeeping forces, killing over 300 people.
In 1985, Hezbollah published its manifesto, pledging allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader, committing to establishing an Iran-aligned Islamist government in Lebanon, and vowing to destroy Israel.
When Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s leader Abbas Musawi in February 1992, Nasrallah, then 39, was chosen to replace him. While Israel had hoped to deal a fatal blow to the organization by eliminating its head, Nasrallah proved to be a shrewder leader than his predecessor, steering Hezbollah toward becoming a regional power with global reach.
Archival – Hassan Nasrallah in the Late 1980s: Lebanon Should Become Part of the Greater Islamic Republic Ruled by Leader of Iran, Who Should Appoint all Islamic Rulers https://t.co/XFmt2H1kUj pic.twitter.com/kMCTprX94g
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 27, 2024
In retaliation for Musawi’s death, Nasrallah’s Hezbollah orchestrated several deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Latin America.
In 1992, it bombed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 and injuring 242. Two years later, in July 1994, in an attack orchestrated by Iran, a Hezbollah suicide bomber blew up the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center (AMIA), killing 85 and injuring over 300.
The day after the AMIA bombing, a domestic flight in Panama was bombed, killing all 21 passengers, 12 of whom were Jews. Hezbollah is believed to have been responsible for the attack.
Under Nasrallah’s leadership, Hezbollah also orchestrated a large-scale attack against US forces in 1996 in the Saudi city of Khobar, killing 19 US Air Force personnel. Ten years later, a US court ruled that Iran and Hezbollah were directly responsible for the bombing.
Second Lebanon War
In October 2000, Hezbollah was behind the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli soldiers, Sgt. Adi Avitan, Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaid. An Israeli investigation found that the Hezbollah operatives who conducted the operation had disguised themselves as UN personnel and used vehicles with UNIFIL logos.
The bodies of the soldiers were returned in 2004, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
In July 2006, Hezbollah launched another cross-border raid, killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two others, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Nasrallah anticipated a prisoner exchange similar to 2004 but underestimated Israel’s response.
Directed by prime minister Ehud Olmert, the IDF launched a 34-day military operation, bombarding Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and its headquarters in Beirut. In retaliation, Nasrallah ordered his forces to pummel northern Israel with thousands of rockets.
From his secret hideout, Nasrallah broadcast fiery speeches, lauding the “Islamic resistance” to his Lebanese audience and solidifying his status as a hero among many across the Arab world with his captivating rhetoric, his witty sarcasm, and his distinctive black turban.
‘Let the whole world know: You cannot eliminate Hezbollah or the resistance in Palestine.
The resistance is the people—a people who possess faith, willpower, confidence in victory, who love martyrdom, and who reject humiliation and disgrace.’
— Nasrallah, 3 August 2006 pic.twitter.com/CGv2ncMee5
— project for the anti-american century (@puppospraxis) September 24, 2024
Hostilities ceased in August after Israel, Hezbollah, and the Lebanese government agreed to UN Resolution 1701, which required Hezbollah to disarm and withdraw north of the Litani River — terms that were never enforced.
A few days after the ceasefire, Nasrallah admitted that had he known the consequences of the soldiers’ abduction, Hezbollah would not have carried it out.
In his last public speech in September 2006, the terror leader addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters in Beirut, claiming Hezbollah had achieved a “divine victory” by forcing the withdrawal of IDF troops from Lebanon. He famously asserted that Israel was “weaker than a spider’s web.”
Involvement in the Syrian civil war
Hezbollah was no stranger to intervening in regional conflicts. Between 2003 and 2011 during the Iraq War, the group armed and trained Shiite militias responsible for attacks on US forces, according to a US congressional report.
When the Arab Spring uprising reached Syria, Hezbollah responded by sending thousands of fighters to support its ally, President Bashar Assad. They fought alongside Syrian troops between 2012 and 2019.
The group was implicated in some of the most brutal episodes of the Syrian Civil War, including the siege of Aleppo from 2013 to 2016, where over 20,000 civilians were killed. Hezbollah also participated in the sieges of Al-Qusayr, the Qalamoun Mountains, Deir Ezzor, and Daraa, among others.
Following Nasrallah’s assassination last week, hundreds of people celebrated in the streets of Idlib, a rebel-held enclave in northwestern Syria, where many had suffered from Hezbollah’s and Assad’s brutal repression.
Syrians sending a message to Israel in Hebrew:
“Thank you very much Netanyahu. By killing Nasrallah you light the path of peace”
A reminder of the bloody history:
Hezbollah has been fighting in Syria and committing massacres against the Syrian people under the leadership of… pic.twitter.com/U0ozUE350k
— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) September 29, 2024
More attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets abroad
Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah expanded into a global criminal enterprise, funding its activities through drug smuggling, fundraising in Islamic communities, and money laundering across continents.
At the same time that it was involved in the Syrian Civil War, the group continued its terror activities, plotting attacks against Israelis around the world in collaboration with Iran.
These included thwarted attacks on Israeli tourists in Thailand in 2012 and 2014, and on Israeli diplomatic targets in Azerbaijan, India, and Georgia in 2012. One such attack succeeded in Bulgaria in 2012, when a bus of Israeli tourists was bombed, killing six.
Most recently, in November 2023, Brazilian authorities foiled a Hezbollah plot targeting Israeli and Jewish sites in the country, including synagogues.
