Arabs across the Middle East delight in Hassan Nasrallah’s death

As the news that Hassan Nasrallah had likely been killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut began to filter throughout the Arab world, the residents of Idlib took to the streets to celebrate. 

Inhabitants of the rebel-held Syrian city beeped car horns, gave out sweets and fired guns into the air in jubilation. 

The scenes provided a reminder that the leader of Hezbollah – long a key lynchpin of Iran’s regional ambitions – had attracted widespread emnity across the Middle East as well as support.

Much of his now posthumous reputation was forged by Hezbollah’s role in the Syrian Civil War. 

Having entered the conflict in 2012, the Lebanese militia provided critical support for Assad’s regime as it gradually began to reverse its losses to rebel forces.

It also participated in sieges that saw civilians starved as a method of warfare.

“The government and Hezbollah forces burned the agricultural fields, just as a form of punishment, even though we couldn’t access them,” a former teacher in one town told Amnesty International in 2017.

Writing on X, Syrian journalist Omar Abu Layla said: “We Syrians hate Hassan Nasrallah. He is a war criminal, and his militias have killed tens of thousands of Syrians, including children, women, and the elderly. Only Assad's loyalists and his supporters admire him.”

Announcing the news that Hezbollah had confirmed Nasrallah’s death, he added: “To hell.”

Abdul Latif Al-Sheikh, a Saudi Arabian poet with close ties to his country’s government, said: "Gloating [over Nasrallah's death] is not just random hostility, but a natural reaction to a series of dirty policies and actions that have aroused widespread resentment."

Omar Al Jammal, an Iraqi television presenter, shared a photo of Nasrallah and wrote: “I long to see your dismembered remains, I long to take my revenge on you, you shame on the earth O tool of the Zionists in the land of the Arabs…

"Even the stone will doubt you in the Arabian Peninsula. The Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, Yemenis and Palestinians you slaughtered with a green light from America and Zionism will sue you. We complain to God about you and those like you. Who used you, you criminal?”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Idlib resident Yasmine Muhammad said she felt an “overwhelming happiness that cannot be described” following Nasrallah’s killing.

“I consider this revenge for the thousands of Syrians who were killed by Hezbollah, the main support of Bashar al-Assad,” she said. “Hezbollah committed the most heinous massacres against Syrians, and it also participated in the starvation and displacement of thousands of Syrians.”

Ahmad Taama added: “[He] caused pain to the Syrian people through killing, displacement, and bombing, and his standing with Bashar al-Assad.

“He stole our dreams and ambitions. He killed many young Syrians in the prime of their lives.”

Khaled Hassan, an Egyptian-born convert to Judaism now living in Britain, told the JC there were various levels of hatred directed at Hezbollah throughout the Arab world.

"First you have the Syrians because of the atrocities committed against Syrian women and children during the civil war, including the rape of women,” he said.

"You can see that Syrians have this glee at the death of Nasrallah. They’re celebrating.”

The next level, Hassan said, was Saudi Arabia, where prominent authors had publicly expressed their happiness at his killing.

In his homeland of Egypt, however, the picture was mixed, he claimed.

"Many are extremely anti-Israel and cannot even bring themselves to celebrate Nasrallah’s killing,” Hassan said, though many are opposed to Hezbollah.

Much of the split in reaction to Nasrallah’s death is down to sectarian alligances. 

While many Shias view him as an icon of the Iranian-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel, Sunnis are likely to have opposed him.

“Iraqis are divided between those who support and those who condemn Nasrallah’s killing,” Faleh al-Saqr, a Sunni Iraqi politician told The Media Line.

“Sunnis in Iraq hate all Iranian-backed militias, including Hezbollah. Candies were distributed in many Sunni cities after Nasrallah’s death. He was the reason for the establishment of the Iraqi Hezbollah, which killed thousands of Sunnis.

“There will be more destruction from this war, but we are happy with Nasrallah’s death.”

Saudi journalist Abdullah Al-Bandar told the outlet that he believed Nasrallah’s killing would benefit Arab states.

“This is the beginning of the end of terrorist groups in the Middle East,” he said. “We do not want further escalation, so the region does not get dragged into a major war, but it’s clear that this war will bring an end to Shiite militias.”

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, all of which are governed by Sunnis, meanwhile did not produce any statement on his death.

Asked what was behind the various responses to Nasrallah’s killing, Hassan said: “From the Syrian view it’s definitely sectarianism, a bit of geopolitics.

"From the Saudi Arabian side it is more about geopolitics. They see Iran as a big threat. On social media, there are lots of comments critical of Hezbollah’s failure against Israel.”

Regardless of their views on Nasrallah, however, most are united by their opposition to Israel.

"Joy and gloating now is achieving victory for the enemy, fragmenting the [Arab] nation and betraying the people of Lebanon and Gaza," Reuters reported Egyptian TV host Lamis Elhadidi as saying.

"Put your differences aside and forget about Iran, as there is an Arab country that is being bombed every hour."