Who was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah?
Here. ITVX looks at the legacy of Hassan Nasrallah, whose leadership saw Hezbollah become one of the world's most powerful non-state military actors
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli military strike in Beirut on Friday.
The military said that they carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership was meeting at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
He led the Lebanese group for the past three decades, transforming it into one of the most powerful paramilitary groups in the Middle East.
But who was Nasrallah - and how important was he to Hezbollah? ITV News explains.
Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Nasrallah, Hezbollah fought wars against Israel and taken part in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favor of President Bashar Assad.
An astute strategist, Nasrallah reshaped Hezbollah into an archenemy of Israel, cementing alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and groups such as Hamas.
Nasrallah held the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
Despite the power he wields, Nasrallah has lived largely in hiding for fear of an Israeli assassination.
Born in 1960 into a poor Shiite family in Beirut’s impoverished northern suburb of Sharshabouk, Nasrallah was later displaced to south Lebanon.
He studied theology and joined the Amal movement, a Shiite political and paramilitary organisation, before becoming one of Hezbollah’s founders.
Hezbollah was formed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard members who came to Lebanon in the summer of 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces. It was the first group that Iran backed and used as a way to export its brand of political Islam.
Nasrallah built a power base as Hezbollah became part of a cluster of Iranian-backed factions and governments known as the Axis of Resistance.
Two days after its leader, 39-year-old Sayyed Abbas Musawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship raid in south Lebanon, Hezbollah chose Nasrallah as its secretary-general in February 1992.
Five years later, the United States designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.
After Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Nasrallah rose to iconic status both within Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. His messages were beamed on Hezbollah’s own radio and satellite TV station.
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When Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, Hezbollah fighters rushed in, siding with Assad’s forces - even though Hezbollah’s popularity took a dive as the Arab world ostracised Assad.
Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah fought Israel to a stalemate during the 34-day war in 2006. His eldest son, Hadi, was killed in 1997, while fighting against Israeli forces.
A day after the latest Israel-Hamas conflict started on October 7, Hezbollah began attacking Israeli military posts along the border calling it a “backup front” for Gaza.
In speeches throughout the conflict, he argued that Hezbollah’s cross-border strikes had pulled away Israeli forces that would otherwise be focused on Hamas in Gaza and insisted that Hezbollah would not halt its attacks on Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
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