‘Legend is born’: Lebanese Christian leaders mourn Nasrallah

Prominent Christian political leaders in Lebanon have paid tribute to the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, praising his charismatic leadership and enduring commitment to the resistance movement’s fight against Israel over the past decades.

In a violent bombardment campaign on Friday, Israel leveled several apartment buildings in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, which led to the death of scores of civilians as well as the martyrdom of Nasrallah and several Hezbollah officials.

The latest aggression came against the backdrop of escalated tensions between the Lebanese resistance movement and the occupying entity, which included the targeted killing of top Hezbollah commanders and the detonation of telecommunication devices belonging to the Muslim resistance group.

Sleiman Frangieh, leader of Lebanon’s Christian political party Marada and Hezbollah’s preferred candidate for the presidency, mourned the death of Nasrallah and posted a brief statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

“The symbol is gone, the legend is born, and the resistance continues,” he wrote.

Former Lebanese President Michel Aoun, a Christian and founder of the Free Patriotic Movement party which is allied with Hezbollah, posted a lengthier statement praising Nasrallah as a martyr for the country.

“With the martyrdom of His Eminence the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon loses a distinguished and honest leader who led the national resistance on the paths of victory and liberation,” he wrote on X

“He was faithful to his promise and loyal to his people who reciprocated his love, trust and commitment,” he added.

The former Lebanese president praised Nasrallah as “an honorable friend.”

He also warned against the “dangers” Lebanon is “witnessing as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression,” calling for national unity.

“May God grant the great martyr a spacious place in heaven, and condolences to his family, the resistance, all his loved ones, and all of Lebanon,” Aoun wrote.      

Lebanon has a relatively large number of Christians, with reports estimating them to make up more than 32 percent of the Mediterranean country’s population

Profile: How Nasrallah rose through ranks to become Axis of Resistance backbone

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, was a visionary leader and the backbone of the Axis of Resistance.

Lebanese-American Firas Maksad, a senior director for strategic outreach at the Middle East Institute, also told Newsweek that Nasrallah’s assassination “leaves a big void” in Lebanon’s ruling system.

The 64-year-old Hezbollah chief led the group for more than three decades.

The revered figure was elected Secretary-General of Hezbollah in 1992 at the age of 32 after an Israeli helicopter gunship assassinated his predecessor, Sayyed Abbas al-Musawi.

The assassination came as part of the regime’s escalation against Hezbollah. Israel has been targeting Lebanon since October 7, 2023, when it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah has been responding to the aggression with numerous retaliatory operations, including one with a hypersonic ballistic missile, targeting the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Lebanese resistance movement has vowed to keep up its operations against Israel as long as the Israeli regime continues its Gaza war, which has so far killed more than 41,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

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