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100 Iraqi newborns named 'Nasrallah' after Hezbollah leader’s assassination

October 7, 2024 at 12:28 pm

People gather in the Yemeni capital Sana’a to condemn Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip and its attacks on Lebanon in Sana’a, Yemen on October 04, 2024. [Mohammed Hamoud – Anadolu Agency]

Iraq’s Ministry of Health has reported that approximately 100 newborns have been named “Nasrallah” in the days following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, by Israel.

Several local media outlets confirmed that these births were registered across various regions in Iraq. According to one source, the naming was “in honour of the martyr of the resistance.”

Nasrallah was killed in a major Israeli strike on the southern suburb of Beirut late last month. Born in 1960, he joined Hezbollah in 1982, the year the group was founded, with the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to resist Israeli forces in Lebanon.

 

A dedicated scholar of Shia Islam, Nasrallah swiftly ascended through the organisation’s ranks, becoming its third secretary-general in 1992 after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abbas Al-Musawi.

The New Arab notes that he was “widely seen as a symbol of resistance against Israel and Western influence in the region by many in Iraq, particularly within the country’s majority Shia population.”

Israel increased its air strikes in Lebanon on 23 September, making it the most intense bombing campaign launched against the country in almost 20 years. The occupation army’s continued aggression has displaced over 1.2 million Lebanese, with most of the country’s displacement shelters full to capacity.  On Saturday, Iraq received 626 Lebanese through Al-Qaim border crossing. According to Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, this brings the total number of Lebanese who have arrived in the country to 5,693 since the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon. Most Lebanese arrivals to Iraq are currently hosted in Najaf and Karbala.

OPINION: After Nasrallah’s assassination, what’s next for Israel?