As the war against Hezbollah enters its 23rd day, Nasrallah has emerged as a symbol of resistance to Israel in the Arab world.
With both sides refusing to give in, Nasrallah warned of heavy shelling at Tel Aviv, the Israeli capital, if the Israeli military attacked Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
Nasrallah joined Hezbollah after the ill-fated Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. His triumphant hour arrived in 2000 when Israel withdrew its troops after an 18-year-old occupation during which it faced a long confrontation with Hezbollah. The Israeli decision conferred considerable authority on Nasrallah, an important leader of the 1.4 million-strong Shia community in Lebanon.
Three years earlier, in 1997, he lost an 18-year-old son, who died fighting the Israelis in southern Lebanon.
Image: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, flanked by bodyguards and standing behind a podium draped with the Palestinian flag, addresses a rally organised by the Shiite militia in southern Beirut to mark the second anniversary of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, September 27, 2002.
Photograph: Ramzi Haider/AFP/Getty Images
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