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Hezbollah denies rumors of Nasrallah suffering stroke

A Hezbollah spokesperson denied to L'Orient Today that the party's leader suffered from a stroke, slamming "Israeli propaganda." 

Hezbollah denies rumors of Nasrallah suffering stroke

Hezbollah supporters hold posters of slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani as Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech on a screen in Beirut, Jan. 5, 2020 (Credit: AFP)

BEIRUT — The cancellation of a speech planned by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last Friday — after he contracted the flu, according to a party statement — has raised speculation over his health during the holiday weekend.

Nasrallah’s speech was canceled “due to health reasons after he contracted the flu, which hinders his eminence from speaking in the usual and natural manner,” Hezbollah’s statement had said on Friday.

Nasrallah — aged 62 — is receiving “appropriate treatment” and “plans to give a speech on Jan. 3, the anniversary of the killing by the United States of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi military leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in 2020.”

Friday's speech had been announced a few days earlier and was supposed to cover "local political developments," as Lebanon has been without a president for more than two months. 

Rumors of a stroke

Israeli and regional media were quick to report that Nasrallah’s health was deteriorating and his condition was more serious than the flu.

Jerusalem Post reported that he had been “rushed to intensive care after suffering a stroke,” citing “sources” in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Israeli news website Hadashot Hamot had reported that “Nasrallah is in a critical health condition, and according to the report, he has the flu or corona, is unconscious and is on a respirator.”

Randa Slim, Senior Fellow & Director of Conflict Resolution & Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute, tweeted that there seems to be some "truth" to the rumors, without elaborating more.

Slim told L’Orient Today that Nasrallah is in serious condition, but she does not know the “exact medical cause.”

Saudi Journalist Hussein al-Gawi also claimed on Saturday that Nasrallah had suffered a second stroke, adding that he was taken to Al-Rassoul Al-Azam hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

'False claims'

“The false claims that the Hezbollah leader is suffering from a stroke and that it isn’t just the flu as we said in our statement Friday is Israeli propaganda,” a Hezbollah spokesperson told L’Orient Today on Monday.

The spokesperson added that “we do not reply to Israeli propaganda, we have a ceremony tomorrow and he will be speaking, that is our reply to them.”

“We’ll all see tomorrow,” Hezbollah’s spokesperson concluded to L’Orient Today.

In June 2021, Nasrallah's health came under speculation after he appeared sick, coughing and pale while on television, and acknowledged not feeling well. 

BEIRUT — The cancellation of a speech planned by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last Friday — after he contracted the flu, according to a party statement — has raised speculation over his health during the holiday weekend.Nasrallah’s speech was canceled “due to health reasons after he contracted the flu, which hinders his eminence from speaking in the usual and natural manner,”...