On zeal - Robert F. Worth in The Atlantic:

‘As word spread on Saturday that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in his underground Beirut bunker by an Israeli airstrike, people began quietly reckoning with the possibility that Lebanon’s political architecture might be about to shift for the first time in more than three decades. And that, in turn, raised the prospect that locked doors might soon open across the Middle East.
Those who have fought against Hezbollah—not just Israelis but also Lebanese from across the nation’s confessional divides, as well as Syrians and Yemenis—could see the tantalizing possibility that the Shiite movement’s dominance might be at an end. Many others worried that a sudden power vacuum might lead Lebanon back to the kind of civil war that tortured its people for 15 years before Hezbollah emerged in the early 1980s.’

(…)

‘Just after Nasrallah’s death was announced by Hezbollah on Saturday afternoon, impromptu rallies broke out, with people chanting in unison Labayka, ya Nasrallah—“We are at your service, Nasrallah.” Ordinarily, any Hezbollah activity is carefully organized by the party itself, a strict and hierarchical organization. But with the group leaderless and in disarray, no one seemed to know where to turn for guidance.
Some Hezbollah loyalists directed their anger at Iran, the group’s patron and arms supplier, which has not come to their aid after weeks of punishing airstrikes. “Iran sold us out,” I heard one man say in a Beirut café Saturday afternoon, a phrase that was widely repeated on social media among Hezbollah sympathizers. Other supporters of Hezbollah appeared to be lashing out at Syrian refugees, whom they suspect of providing targeting information to Israel. Videos circulated online, claiming to show Shiite men brutally beating Syrians with truncheons.’

(…)

‘In 2005, an enormous car bomb on Beirut’s seafront killed Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 other people. A team of international investigators concluded that Hezbollah members were responsible for the bombing.
Yet Nasrallah was admired even by some who resented the way he held the Lebanese state hostage for decades. He had charm, unlike so many other leaders in a region full of potbellied Islamist prigs and brutal dictators. He was recognized across the Arab world for delivering elegantly composed speeches, starting out calmly and moving toward a finger-wagging vehemence. Along the way he could be funny, even impish, as he relentlessly promoted hatred and violence. And he had an instinct for the dramatic.’

(…)

‘Everyone conceded the sincerity of Nasrallah’s zeal, even if its results—a long series of destructive wars and terrorist bombings—was appalling. In 1997, Nasrallah gave a speech just hours after his eldest son was killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers. He did not dwell on his son’s death, but his face registered a battle to conceal his emotions as he spoke. “My son the martyr chose this road by his own will,” he said.
Whether or not that was true of his son, it was certainly true of Nasrallah.’

Read the article here.

The death of Nasrallah has already been compared to the death of the Nasser, also because of the date, September 28, and probably this assassination is more important than any other of Israel’s extra-judicial killings, but none of these killings was decisive, at least some of them were counterproductive.

And Nasrallah’s zeal might have been sincere, but based on my visit to Hezbollah in 2007, I’m not so sure about the sincerity of his followers. But perhaps sincerity is nog always needed to be an effective combatant.

The answer to many questions will come from Teheran. Lebanon is just an important outpost.