…and suddenly Hassan Nasrallah becomes a rallying point against Israel

Hassan Nasrallah was a charismatic figure for his followers, and after his death there has been wide circulation of visuals of followers and his children, standing in the rubble of their city, and swearing to become martyrs for the cause of liberating Palestine

Had Hassan Nasrallah, the man who made Hezbollah the most powerful non-State player in West Asia, been killed a year ago, before the October 7 attack by Hamas triggered the violent retribution by Israel, it would have made ordinary news from a troubled part of the world. But the timing of his death after the merciless bloodbath in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon, amplifies Nasrallah’s image.

True, Hezbollah has been delivered a military blow, but in Nasrallah’s death has emerged a face that is the symbol of resistance against what many see as Israel’s brutal maximalist position that boils down to, ‘we have a right to exist even if we kill you all’.

So, there is an emotional response in other parts of the world, including Kashmir where elections are underway but has witnessed huge protests since Nasrallah’s death. The National Conference (NC)’s Srinagar MP, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, a rising star in state politics, immediately called off his campaign on hearing of the assault on Beirut and the death of the Hezbollah chief.

It would be self-defeating to only see this from the perspective of Mehdi being a Shia leader as he won from the Sunni-dominated Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. It is fundamentally the very simple response of people who see the world permitting a heinous injustice on Palestinians.

It’s not just Muslim-majority states who say so. In orders given this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the occupation was illegal, and Palestinians had the right to protect themselves from genocide.

Kashmiris have lived through conflict, war between nations, and street protests that the stone-throwing could have inspired during what is referred to as the intifada in the occupied territories of Palestine. Soon after Mehdi’s announcement, PDP leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said she would be stopping her campaign for a day in solidarity with “martyrs of Lebanon and Gaza, especially Hassan Nasrallah.” She also said that she stands with the people in the hour of grief and “exemplary resistance”.

The central pillar of Shia faith and tradition is remembering the battle of Karbala where the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain, led a small army that would be butchered by a much larger force. Hussain’s death at Karbala is believed to be a fight against tyranny and corruption and was divinely ordained, with the Prophet’s grandson and family members knowing they were fighting to the death. The battle of Karbala is seen as the supreme example of suffering and martyrdom for Shias, and is remembered during Moharram. This is part of the belief system and collective memory of those who are fighting to the end against Israel, which is backed by the United States.

This sort of philosophy of being ready to die is examined in the book ‘Dying to Win: the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism’ by American political scientist Robert Pape. He argues that occupation is one of the factors for creating those who would kill themselves for a cause, be it from the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, or in Lebanon. About Hezbollah, Pape argues after examining research into the backgrounds of individual suicide bombers in the 1980s that it was often the occupation of Palestine and then Lebanon that drove them and not Islam per se, although community support for martyrdom also motivated individuals.

To elaborate on such beliefs, three days after Nasrallah’s death, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general Naim Qassim released a recorded speech in which he said the slain leader has the highest badge of sacrifice — the sacrifice of Imam Hussain. He described the dead as “pure men who sacrificed everything they had to liberate Palestine from the impurities of the Zionists and their hegemony over our lands”.

Hezbollah came into existence after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to crush the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), but Hezbollah would be the greater threat and Nasrallah took the leadership at the age of 32 after then leader Abbas al-Musawi was killed by Tel Aviv. Since then, he was a constant thorn in the side of Israel even as Hezbollah became a state within a state in Lebanon, and part of what Iran calls the ‘axis of resistance’.

It’s also fair to say that many countries in West Asia pay lip service to the Palestine cause but do not actively give any support in resisting Israel as it is backed by the US. It is Iran that is the pivot of the resistance, and there is no saying what direction the ongoing conflict could go.

Nasrallah was a charismatic figure for his followers and after his death there has been wide circulation of visuals of followers and his children, standing in the rubble of their city, and swearing to become martyrs for the cause of liberating Palestine. Speeches and videos are circulating, and even some interviews such as a 2012 conversation with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The extensive coverage of his death and outpouring of support from many quarters has turned Nasrallah into a martyr and the face of resistance to what many perceive as a great injustice.

(Saba Naqvi is a journalist and author.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.