What does this mean?

Their god is dead: Israel beheads the Hezbollah militia

There were spontaneous expressions of grief throughout the Middle East.

(Bild: AFP/ANWAR AMRO)

Israel has achieved a historic coup with the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The blow could lead to multiple organ failure. For the terrorist militia, it is now a matter of sheer survival - and Lebanon is facing even darker times ahead.

When a residential complex in a southern suburb of Beirut was engulfed by a dense fireball on Friday evening, it quickly became clear that this attack was different than usual. The craters that are now visible bear witness to uncompromising brutality. The historic severity became known even before the thick clouds of smoke cleared over Beirut. 

Will Hezbollah die with Nasrallah?
Israel was able to locate the whereabouts of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and kill him - as it turned out hours later. What began as a local air strike turned into a thunderclap for the entire Middle East. The most powerful man in Lebanon, whom his supporters celebrated as invulnerable, was buried under rubble and ashes. But will the Shia militia die with him?

Through years of infiltration and meticulous intelligence work, Israel has succeeded in plunging the terrorists of Hezbollah into chaos within a few days. Their commanders were killed in series, their pagers and radios blown up by the Mossad. The head of the largest terrorist army in the Middle East was cut off without further ado.

The huge crater at the impact site

(Bild: AFP/ANWAR AMRO)

And the heart? A myth was built up around Nasrallah. The Shiite cleric wore the black turban that identified him as a "Sayyed", a direct descendant of the Prophet. In some quarters, he was even regarded as number two behind Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran relied on Hezbollah chief
Nasrallah was an important strategist for Tehran. He built a state within a state in Lebanon. Democratic structures and institutions were de facto dissolved by him. Since he took over in 1992, Hezbollah has developed from a local organization into an internationally feared terrorist militia. He set the pace for millions of people who believed in a new Islamist world order - far beyond the borders of Lebanon.

Public appearances have been very rare in recent years.

(Bild: AFP/HASSAN AMMAR)

Israel's long arm drove him into isolation. In recent years, he has only appeared in public via video messages. And yet his words cast a spell over the Shiite world. Born in 1960 as the ninth of ten children of a fruit and vegetable merchant, by 2024 Nasrallah had almost god-like status.

He branded cell phones as the "agents of Israel", and for more than 15 years his technicians had also been laying a huge fiber optic network for Hezbollah's own fixed network. His communications were designed to remain hidden. In the end, the Jewish state caught him anyway. According to reports, he had been staying for years in Dahija, the densely populated Shiite district in the south of Beirut, where Israel also suspected a Hezbollah headquarters. 

The scope of the Nasrallah killing is enormous
The editor-in-chief of the Lebanese newspaper "L'Orient Le Jour", Anthony Samrani, wrote that the killing was even more significant than that of top general Soleimani in 2020 and that of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"He was our bin Laden times ten. For more than 30 years, he killed our civilians while helping other terrorist organizations get better at killing us," wrote Nadav Pollak, a lecturer at Israel's Reichman University.

Der Spiegel reports on a paralyzing paranoia that is now spreading in Nasrallah's terrorist organization. The reason: Israel's spooky penetration of its own ranks by spies and technical spying: "Everyone now distrusts everyone. Who is a spy?" reported a Hezbollah commander back in April.

Who will be his successor?
Now it's a matter of sheer survival. Without a leader and after the killing of almost the entire top leadership, it is unclear who within Hezbollah could now take command, even in the event of further attacks on Israel. Iran, the protecting power, is currently busy bringing its own leadership to safety. 

One name for the successor is already in circulation: Hashim Safieddine, head of the Hezbollah Executive Council, is considered the most promising candidate. He is a cousin of Nasrallah and the father of the son-in-law of the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq in 2020.

Safieddine, now 60, is said to have been groomed for a leadership role within Hezbollah since the 1990s. According to Arab media reports, he was most recently responsible for financial matters and daily operations within the militia.

Dark times still loom for Lebanon
In Lebanon, which has been without a president and effectively without a government for two years, Nasrallah's death has created a power vacuum. For the time being, there are no signs from Iran, as Hezbollah's most important supporter, that it intends to fill the gap.

A new power struggle between other groups in the sectarian country therefore also seems possible. Opponents of Hezbollah are likely to see this as a unique opportunity to permanently dismantle Hezbollah's structures within the state and re-establish stronger government control.

However, there could also be a major breakdown in security in the country, new sectarian conflicts and overall chaotic conditions. The country already experienced a bloody civil war from 1975 to 1990. Although Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nasrallah, the terrorist militia left a clear message to potential adversaries at the site of the attack. One banner reads: "Hezbollah lives."