No one inside the White House was crying for Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday. But the Israeli strike that killed Mr. Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, once again deepened tensions between President Biden’s administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Israeli officials gave their American counterparts no advance warning of the strike, according to U.S. officials, who were already peeved that Mr. Netanyahu brushed off a U.S.-French 21-day cease-fire proposal. Now American officials worry that they face a wider war that could engulf the region after nearly a year of effort by Mr. Biden to head off such an escalation.
Hasan Nasrallah wanted to live and die as a fighter, and he got his wish Friday, when Israeli bombs pulverized his underground lair in Beirut. Hezbollah will surely seek to avenge Nasrallah’s death, but he was the rare leader who was close to irreplaceable.
I met Nasrallah in October 2003 in a fortified bunker in the southern suburbs of Beirut, not far from where he died. For a man who ordered the deaths of so many Israelis and Lebanese, he was surprisingly soft-spoken. He was a charmer, not a shouter; his legitimacy came from his clerical study in Najaf, Iraq, and his riveting sermons, televised during Muharram and other religious holidays.
Poco después del mediodía, Hizbulá confirmaba el sábado la muerte del secretario general y líder máximo de Hizbulá, Hasan Nasrala, anunciada horas antes por Israel. Con su muerte, se multiplica el riesgo de una guerra total en el Líbano y de un enfrentamiento directo entre Israel e Irán.
Acabar con él ha sido un objetivo permanente de Israel desde que sucedió, con sólo 32 años, a Abbas Mussawi en 1992 al frente del movimiento libanés tras el asesinato por Israel del primer dirigente del grupo.
La sucesión de Musawi se decidió en pocas horas hace 32 años, pero hoy puede llevar mucho más tiempo. La respuesta de Hizbulá probablemente será con hechos más que con palabras.
