Killing of Hassan Nasrallah deals blow to Hezbollah's regional role

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Hezbollah's perceived aura of invincibility began to fracture as Israel systematically eliminated commander after commander over recent weeks. However, the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, who had built the group into a transnational power, marks a significant blow to Iran's regional influence.

Since war broke out in Gaza in October, Israel has killed dozens of Hezbollah commanders in targeted strikes in Lebanon and Syria at a rate widely seen as too punishing for the group to replace and regroup effectively. Hezbollah's communications were also compromised after Israel sabotaged and blew up thousands of the group's pagers and walkie talkies this month.

Many of the slain commanders played a central role in establishing Iranian spheres of control in Syria and maintained close connections to Palestinian group Hamas and other militias in Iraq and Yemen.

Hezbollah has allegedly been involved in the formation of drug networks in Syria, specialising in the production of Captagon, an amphetamine. These operations are claimed to have led to smuggling routes into Jordan, which serves as a transit point for the drug trade to the Arabian Peninsula.

Regional security officials say the trade is worth several billion dollars a year, with Hezbollah, along with Syrian military divisions and other groups backed by Iran, being the primary beneficiaries.

“The Godfather is dead,” Saud Sharafat, a former brigadier general in Jordanian Intelligence, told The National. “Without Nasrallah, Hezbollah is looking at a period of retrenchment. Whatever is left of its commanders in Syria and in other areas will be going back to Lebanon to support the base.”

Mr Sharafat, who heads the Shorufat Centre for Globalisation and Terrorism Studies in Amman, said that without Nasrallah and the other commanders killed by Israel in recent weeks, the Hezbollah-linked militants in Syria will not be able to operate as smoothly as before.

“They held all the names and other secrets that held the network together,” Mr Sharafat said.

When Nasrallah became the head of Hezbollah more than three decades ago, the group portrayed itself as a Lebanese liberation movement aimed at ousting Israel from a zone it had carved up with local allies from south Lebanon. This was in contrast to its main Shiite rival, the Amal group, which had been tainted with corruption since the disappearance of its founder, Imam Musa Sadr, in Libya in 1978.

But since Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah shifted its focus to expanding its domestic constituency and eliminating threats that stood in its way of becoming the dominant power in Lebanese politics.

Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah played a crucial role in helping Syrian President Bashar Al Assad counter the mainly Sunni revolt against his rule in 2011. This resulted in the group becoming a regional military force, specialising in the training of other groups allied to Iran, all while portraying Hezbollah as a champion of the Palestinian cause.

Ultimately, the regional power Nasrallah had helped build is what brought his own demise.

A senior western diplomat specialising in the Middle East explained that by attacking Israel on October 7, Hamas, another Iranian ally, forced Nasrallah's hand, Hezbollah felt compelled to honour its pledge of support for the Palestinian cause, at least symbolically, by launching missile and drone attacks against Israel.

These attacks forced thousands of Israelis to flee their homes in the northern border region with Lebanon. In response, Israel launched strikes on towns in southern Lebanon and carried out targeted assassinations that gradually weakened Hezbollah’s leadership, culminating in the strike that killed Nasrallah in southern Beirut on Friday.

Nasrallah had used up much of Hezbollah's strength to destroy the Syrian opposition and consolidate Iranian influence in Syria, the diplomat said, suggesting he may have overstretched the group in doing so.

While Israel has successfully attacked Hezbollah members and its communications, the diplomat said it was unlikely that the group would end with Nasrallah, predicting that the remaining senior members would direct their efforts towards the group's survival, capitalising on its regional strength.

For all of Nasrallah's lifetime efforts, the regional tempo since October 7 has been set by Hamas and by Israel, not by him. “It is an ironic ending,” the diplomat said.

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

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WHEN TO GO:

September to November or March to May; this is when visitors are most likely to see what they’ve come for.

WHERE TO STAY:

Meghauli Serai, A Taj Safari - Chitwan National Park resort (tajhotels.com) is a one-hour drive from Bharatpur Airport with stays costing from Dh1,396 per night, including taxes and breakfast. Return airport transfers cost from Dh661.

HOW TO GET THERE:

Etihad Airways regularly flies from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu from around Dh1,500 per person return, including taxes. Buddha Air (buddhaair.com) and Yeti Airlines (yetiairlines.com) fly from Kathmandu to Bharatpur several times a day from about Dh660 return and the flight takes just 20 minutes. Driving is possible but the roads are hilly which means it will take you five or six hours to travel 148 kilometres.

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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

MORE FROM ED HUSAIN: The UAE-Israel accord is a win for every Muslim

How to tell if your child is being bullied at school

Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety

Shows signs of depression or isolation

Ability to sleep well diminishes

Academic performance begins to deteriorate

Changes in eating habits

Struggles to concentrate

Refuses to go to school

Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings

Begins to use language they do not normally use

$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal

Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.

School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.

“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.

“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”

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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks

As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.

The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.

Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.

Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category

Not taxed:

Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.

SPECS

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Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.