Even his bitterest Lebanese opponents recognize Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the undisputed leader of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, as the country's most charismatic politician. A clear and lively speaker who switches from classical Arabic to modern slang with ease, he more than any other Lebanese has the power of war and peace.
He launched the latest crisis by authorizing his militia to seize two Israeli soldiers. He decided to send volleys of rockets into Israel, and he could help end the confrontation by accepting a ceasefire and releasing the soldiers.
Unusually for a religious leader, Nasrallah also fulfils the role of political supremo and military commander. "The perception of Nasrallah is that he is in the war room, taking the decisions," says Basher Haider, a professor of philosophy at the American University in Beirut.
Nasrallah is not shy of being photographed carrying a gun, though always held triumphantly above his head. His eldest son was killed by the Israelis and he publicly handed a rifle to his next son to carry on the struggle.
Hezbollah (the party of God) is more than just a political party. It is a movement with a strong welfare chapter that helps poor Shias in the southern suburbs of Beirut and southern Lebanon. "It is the least corrupt of all Lebanese parties, very efficient, and in close contact with the people they serve," Haider says.
Born in Bourji Hammoud, east of Beirut, Nasrallah was 15 when civil war forced the family back to their ancestral village in southern Lebanon. He studied at a Koranic seminary in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf, but left under pressure from Saddam Hussein's police in 1978.
He joined Hezbollah during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and went back to his religious studies in Iran in 1989. He is believed to have been influenced by the fact that clerics led the anti-Western revolution in Iran in 1979.
While an earlier generation was attracted to the secular pan-Arabism of Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Nasrallah felt that Islamism was the best way of uniting Arabs in the struggle against Israeli and US dominance.
He took over the Hezbollah leadership in 1992 at 32 when its founder was assassinated by Israel. He helped build it into a force that led Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000 after two decades of occupation.
Despite his years of religious studies, Nasrallah does not exert his authority through writing books. Some Lebanese describe his motivation as more nationalist than religious. Even in the movement's stronghold in southern Beirut he does not push an Islamist dresscode or agenda. Many women go out unveiled, and, although no alcohol shops or bars are permitted, residents who drink at home with friends are not hassled.
He is married and has three surviving children.
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