Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, Oct. 22, 2001. (Credit: Ammar Ammar/AFP)
After long hours of anticipation and the Lebanese holding their breath, the announcement on Saturday of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's assassination in the violent Israeli strike that shook the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, provoked numerous reactions in political circles. The overwhelming majority of local protagonists, from the most steadfast allies of Hezbollah to its opponents (despite the notorious silence of the Christian opposition), paid tribute to Nasrallah, "an exceptional leader" despite all political differences. At the same time, they called for unity among the Lebanese in these difficult times.
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Najib Mikati
Outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati paid tribute to the Shiite dignitary at the start of the Cabinet held at the Serail on Saturday evening. He opened the meeting with a minute's silence. He then declared three days of official mourning on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nabih Berri
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah's staunchest ally and partner in the Shiite Amal-Hezbollah tandem, addressed the Shiite dignitary who had "missed" him in these terms: "This is the first time you have broken your promise and left without warning." "Words escape me. Your death has shaken me," said the legislative leader, who enjoyed a 33-year allyship with Nasrallah, a figure he considers "irreplaceable."
Michel Aoun
The former President of the Republic, who had signed the Mar Mikhael agreement with Nasrallah linking Hezbollah to the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) since 2006, paid tribute to the memory of his "friend," who had led a political battle to elevate him to the presidency in 2016. "With the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon has lost a sincere and exceptional leader who led the resistance on the path to liberation and victory," wrote Aoun on his X account. He added that he had "lost a personal friend," with whom he had "worked for the interests of Lebanon." The former head of state also called for national solidarity in the face of the "dangers facing Lebanon as a result of Israeli aggression," referring to the escalation seen over the past 10 days between Israel and Hezbollah.
Gebran Bassil
FPM leader Gebran Bassil bid farewell to Nasrallah, despite the deep disagreements currently shaking relations between the Aounist movement and Hezbollah, both over the presidential election and the Shiite militia's involvement in the war underway since last October. "It's a big loss. But the sadness we feel is even greater," he said at the start of a press briefing on Saturday, offering his condolences "to all the Lebanese."
Saad Hariri
The Future Movement leader also paid tribute to the memory of Nasrallah in a statement. The Shiite party is accused of having assassinated Rafic Hariri, Saad's father and former head of government, in a car bomb attack on Feb. 14, 2005. "We often had important disagreements with Nasrallah and his party, and we sometimes converged with him" on the local scene, said Hariri. The former Prime Minister called Nasrallah's murder a "cowardly act," claiming that it had plunged Lebanon and the region into a new phase of violence. Hariri urged the Lebanese to "show solidarity and unity."
Walid Joumblatt
The Druze leader, former head of the Progressive Socialist Party, commented on X on the murder of Hezbollah's Secretary General: "Hassan Nasrallah and his comrades have joined the long caravan of martyrs on the road to Palestine. I send my condolences to Hezbollah and pay tribute to the lives of innocent civilians," he wrote on X, accompanying his message with a photo of Al-Aqsa mosque's Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site.
Sleiman Frangieh
The head of the Marada and candidate for the Shiite Amal-Hezbollah tandem for the presidency, Sleiman Frangieh, confined himself to a sober message on his X account: "The symbol is no more, the legend is born and the resistance continues."
World powers also reacted (belatedly) to the assassination, which claimed a large number of civilian victims and reshuffled the cards in the region.
United States
U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement that "Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, killed hundreds of Americans during a four-decade reign of terror. His death following an Israeli air strike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of American, Israeli and Lebanese civilians." "The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and any other Iranian-backed terrorist group," he continued, adding that America's goal is to "defuse the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means."
France
In Paris, the Quai d'Orsay also reacted in a statement to the latest developments in Lebanon. "The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs is in contact with the Lebanese authorities and France's partners in the region to prevent any destabilization or flare-ups. Messages are being sent to all parties," the text reads. "The security and protection of civilians must be guaranteed, as must that of French nationals in the region, who are also our priority," the Ministry concluded. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was due to visit Beirut at the end of the week, but his visit was cancelled, according to our information. He did, however, speak to Mikati by telephone on Saturday.
Antonio Guterres
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely concerned by the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut over the past 24 hours," said his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric on Saturday, quoted by our New York correspondent Sylviane Zehil. "This cycle of violence must end now, and all parties must pull back from the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the region as a whole cannot afford an all-out war," said the spokesman, asserting that the senior U.N. official urges the parties to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (which ended the 2006 war) and to return immediately to a cessation of hostilities.
Germany
Quoted in several media, the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, described the situation in Lebanon as "extremely dangerous," warning that the region could be "dragged into a spiral of violence."
Russia
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned...the new political crime perpetrated by Israel against the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah." "This will have consequences for Lebanon and the Middle East as a whole. Israel was aware of this, but committed this crime anyway," the Ministry added, making Tel Aviv assume "full responsibility" for the "dramatic" consequences that the assassination of the Hezbollah leader could bring to the region. "We urge Israel to cease hostilities immediately" to "put an end to the bloodshed," said Russian diplomacy.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour.
