Word: nasrallah
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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With the country's political future in question, Nasrallah is determined that Hizballah will help control its destiny. Hizballah's show of force has emboldened Syria and its allies to reassert their influence. Emile Lahoud, Lebanon's pro-Syria President, announced the reappointment of Prime Minister Omar Karami, who had resigned during the freedom protests. Syrian President Bashar Assad gave U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen a timetable late last week for pulling all Syrian forces out of Lebanon. While that assurance may temporarily placate U.S. demands, President George W. Bush has vowed to keep up the pressure on Syria...
...that the anti-Syrian protests may accelerate demands that Hizballah disband its military wing, in accord with U.N. Resolution 1559. A Syrian pullout would deprive Hizballah of a powerful ally on the ground and could choke off the Syrian channel for military supplies from Iran, Hizballah's main sponsor. Nasrallah is concerned that Lebanon will move into the U.S. orbit and face pressure to sign a peace treaty with Israel. While Nasrallah lauded Syria, he was careful to hold the demonstration under the colors of Lebanon's national flag. It was a sign that Hizballah will throw more...
...Nasrallah, 44, is used to being heard. Since assuming the group's leadership after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Sheik Abbas Musawi, in 1992, Nasrallah--a bearded, bespectacled Shi'ite cleric who trained in Najaf and Qum--has used Hizballah's resources to build a vast welfare network consisting of dozens of schools, 50 clinics and four hospitals as well as various businesses and farms that employ supporters...
...same time, Nasrallah has boosted Hizballah's campaign against Israel, promoting suicide bombings and other violent attacks over Hizballah's Manar satellite channel and sending Hizballah's guerrillas to smuggle arms into the West Bank. Such meddling infuriates Hizballah's critics in Washington, who have pushed the Bush Administration to disarm Hizballah, through either military strikes or U.N. sanctions. But last week Administration officials abstained from denouncing Hizballah and suggested the group should be encouraged to complete its transformation into a political party. "Let's see what the Lebanese people want to be when they grow up," says a veteran...
...Nasrallah, who is married and has four children, may find himself taking on an even bigger role. Though he rarely ventures out of Shi'ite strongholds--he usually limits his public addresses to well-guarded meetings marking religious occasions--he is respected by Lebanese politicians for ending Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, a cause that cost him his eldest son, who died in 1997 battling Israeli forces. Some believe that Nasrallah could help bring Lebanon's bickering sides to the table. "Clear, decisive, conversational, principled and responsible," wrote Lebanese columnist Joseph Samaha on Nasrallah's call for a national...