Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah’s charismatic leader

IN THE BEGINNING he was never alone. In the tight, winding quarters of al-Sharshabouk, a neighbourhood in East Beirut mostly inhabited by refugees and squatters, it was hard to find silence. At home he was surrounded by eight younger siblings. Yet he always searched for solace, travelling to neighbouring areas to find religious books to read. It was in these pages that he found God, and read the teachings of Shia Islamists. And when he was young, Israeli attacks on Lebanon, particularly in the south, were common. These things would shape Hassan Nasrallah—bringing him to the leadership of Hizbullah, a Lebanese Shia militia backed by Iran, and enduring hostility to Israel.