The Arab world has had few heroes in the modern world that it can call its own. A dashing Gamal Abdel Nasser inspired a generation in the 1950s and 1960s with dreams of pan-Arab pride and dignity. But today the leading candidate for Arab hero is probably a plump religious scholar. This is not because of his religion, however. It is because he leads the only group in the Arab world that can claim a military victory against its historic enemy, Israel. Since the guerrillas of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s Hizbollah (”Party of God”) pushed Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon in May 2000, it has become an inspiration across the Middle East. Nasrallah’s picture appeared alongside that of Moqtada al-Sadr, the renegade Shia cleric who rebelled against US forces in Iraq last year. And Palestinian militants have adopted the suicide tactics that Hizbollah used against Israeli military targets (though the Palestinian suicide attacks have struck Israeli civilians, which Hizbollah’s did not).
The headquarters of Hizbollah in the Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik are in an inconspicuous building in a side street protected by two sets of gates. Past a metal detector at the entrance, I am escorted to a meeting room decorated with crystal chandeliers and patterned blue-and-yellow sofas. I sit down and wait as told, straightening the black scarf I have chosen to wear in deference to the man of religion. Only a few minutes later, he enters alone. With a heavy black beard, his eyes hidden behind thick glasses and his hair tucked behind a black turban, Nasrallah might look to some like the terrorist the Americans say he is. But he’s also charismatic in some respects, though he has a habit of fiddling with his turban as he talks. He speaks with a lisp and occasionally injects a touch of humour into his discourse, but he comes across more as politician than preacher.
