Hassan Nasrallah

Hassan Nasrallah has been the Secretary General of Hezbollah since 1992. Born in Beirut, his family returned to their ancestral home when the Lebanese civil war began; Hassan was 15 then and his imams encouraged him to pursue his interest in theology. At 16, he commenced studies at a seminary in Najaf, Iraq. When Iraq expelled all Lebanese students two years later, he and future Hezbollah leader Abbas Musawi returned to Lebanon to form a seminary and start Hezbollah.

Nasrallah has led Hezbollah since Musawi's assassination in 1992, transforming it from a militia fighting in the civil war to a political party with broad appeal to Lebanon's Shi'ite community; he has also led Hezbollah to perform governmental duties by providing schools, hospitals, and other relief. During the Arab Spring, Nasrallah has mostly supported the protesters' attempts to supplant dictators, but not in Syria, a key Hezbollah ally.

For more information, see http://on.cfr.org/rUua0w.