Remembering Syed Hadi Nasrullah: 1979 - 1997.

Very short life, huge accomplishment 

You probably haven't heard much about this amazing young man because our media has no time for 

real people

Syed Hadi Nasrullah was born in 19th January 1979 in the village of Bazuryeh, Lebanon.   His father embraced the first born of the family, his heart filled with love, and recited the Azan in his ears.

After his family moved to Beirut,  Hadi continued his studies at the Educational Center of Al-Mustafa which is managed by Hezbollah. In the third year of high school when he was 16, he left school temporarily with the consent of his parents to join the ranks of the Islamic resistance fighters of Hezbollah. 

Membership of Hezbollah wasn't easy.  It required intense steps and the process was no different for Syed Hadi Nasrallah.   Intelligence officials of Hezbollah called him for an interview and a thorough systematic investigation.  He responded with a smile, "I am the son of Syed Hasan Nasrallah."  He was told, "It does not matter. Write out your detailed personal information."  Hadi went to his father and asked, "Father, did you give orders that have bothered me and would not let me into the group?"  Syed Hasan Nasrallah replied, "Such is the system of resistance and we must comply."  And so, Hadi had to fill a lengthy form and write 14 pages about himself before being recruited within Hezbollah.  

On September 12, 1997 three Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli army base in the Zionist occupied province of Aqleem Al Tafah in South Lebanon.  They took the army base by surprise.  In the wee hours of September 13, the Israeli army martyred the three Hezbollah fighters and six Lebanese soldiers in the mountains of southern Lebanon.  Their bodies were in possession of Israeli forces. Hezbollah officials viewed the video footage of the bodies after Israeli television displayed their images and confirmed that one of the martyrs was Syed Hadi Nasrallah, son of the Hezbollah leader and Secretary-General, Syed Hassan Nasrallah.  The news spread like wild fire across Lebanon and the Middle-East.  Hadi was 18.

 
It was like a bombshell in the Lebanese society.  In the history of the country, both during the Civil War and the confrontation with Israel, never did the son of any political or military leader undertake a mission as dangerous as this.  In fact, nowhere can we imagine the concept of equitability rising to such heights.  Writes New Republic: "In the days after Hadi was killed, Lebanese leaders from across the political spectrum—even Christian warlord and bitter enemy Elie Hobeika—paid their respects to Nasrallah and his wife."

Lebanon was greatly influenced by the martyrdom of Hadi which had a tremendous unifying affect.  The country was filled with enormous sympathy, respect and admiration for the Secretary General of Hezbollah that came from all political leaders, the Lebanese religious tribes and the people.  Condolences as well as congratulations on the martyrdom of Syed Hadi Nasrullah were conveyed with expressions of gratitude and respect for the courage and sincerity of the Secretary General.  It was the first time ever when the then Saudi crown prince (Abdullah) found it necessary to send a condolence message to Hassan Nasrullah.  

In response to Hadi's captured body by the Zionist army, his mother said: “This body is also like the other bodies of the martyrs of Resistance. There is no difference between them. I am the mother like other mothers of the martyrs.  I have heard in the news that the enemy has swapped the body of my son with the body of Zionist military which remained in the failed operations of Ansariyeh in Lebanon. They have got blind and must give all the bodies of the martyrs and free the prisoners. We do not accept just one body and do not submit to the outrageous proposal of the occupiers.”

According to reports, Hadi's remains were sent to his family for burial nearly a month after his martyrdom.

Fall of 1997.  A father's grief.  Body of martyr, Syed Hadi Nasrallah arrives in South Lebanon