IDF reports Nasrallah killed in overnight strikes

[Scirocco]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c981g8mrl8lt

Nasrallah has been the head of Hezbollah for a long time and is/was very close to Iran. That's a heck of a blow to strike on Iran if confirmed.

Link to BBC live page.

Lebanon's population is 43% Christian. The President is always a Maronite Christian.

Not sure about murdered, but I distinctly remember people all over the UK celebrating when Thatcher died. Street parties and renditions of "Ding dong the witch is dead". I imagine people in other countries thought we were all awful for doing so. Well, I know people in other countries thought so because I'm from a different country, and I thought it was horrendous behaviour.

Wonderful news that Hezbollah has taken such a hit.

I don’t think the death of this man is wonderful, but that the murderous scum that is Hezbollah may be stymied. And stop making war for a bit.

The Christian population is declining & I think that figure is out of date. There arent official stats but more recent estimates seem to be around a third. www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/lebanon/

@YellowAsteroid

Indeed. I think journalists are now starting to acknowledge the at least short term tactical success of the Israeli operation. I suspect given the coordination and scale of the current action Israel has war gamed this for years.

The US were put in a tricky position because ostensibly they are calling for a ceasefire but in parallel Harris and Biden have had to state that a blow has been struck in the war against terror.

The US obviously have their own hatred of Islamist terror so the deaths of so many high profile operatives in Lebanon I think goes down well in the US

Also I don't believe the US are as ignorant of the planning for this as they make our in public. I think there are some canny politics at play.

Lives are indeed not points. Many people who suffered terrible losses because of someone, regardless of faith/ethnicity/etc., may well feel relief/justice/freedom/even happiness when that person can no longer hurt anyone, ever again.

It isn't unusual for people of any faith and nationality to celebrate when someone who was responsible for doing horrible things to them and their loved ones dies, whether that death is from natural causes, suicide or someone killing the person.

I'm not sure those celebrating were Christians

They mostly were, as it was people who had suffered throughout the Thatcher years. Former miners etc, who I believe were mostly Christian or at least from Christian communities.

I disagree. Not practicing Christians. The UK population of people that actually practice Christianity has fallen. Everyday people might have shouted the witch is dead, not a language practicing Christians use.

The regular church-goers in a lot of places use far more colourful language than that...

There was an online campaign to: "reach the number one spot in the music charts.
The Wizard of Oz song, which has been at the centre of an online campaign by opponents of Baroness Thatcher, reached number two after selling 52,605 copies." In a population of 66million that's not so many.

That wasn't pushed by Christians though. Just people who didn't like her.

They don't usually welcome as in cheer for the death of someone in church though. They really don't. Have you been to many churches in the UK lately?

What an odd turn for a thread

We are talking about proscribed terrorists wrt Hezbollah

Yep.

In Margaret Thatcher's defence (never thought I'd say those words, but here we are...), she was not anywhere near the same league as this guy. So she might not be the most accurate comparison for the gauging of social acceptability of reactions to a person's death.

I was just responding to other posters and pointing out the inaccuracies of their statements.

I'm a Zionist Jew - no part of me is mourning Nasrallah's death 🙃 I wouldn't ever go out and celebrate it as that feels weird, but I have been humming "yallah ya Nasrallah" to myself since yesterday. It's a catchy tune!

Good grief.

The milk snatcher as she was known didn't lead a terrorist group so any small singing at her death is a million miles away from the death of a terrorist leader. Not comparative at all.

She was a democratically elected politician, with high numbers at that, not the militant head of a terrorist organisation which exists to create fear and destruction

I mean perhaps not right for this thread

Not sure why you've said "good grief" there, only to agree with me that this isn't an accurate comparison?

Sorry, this makes no sense. Thatcher coming to power actually roughly coincides with the beginning of a big drop off in the number of christians, and increase in people stating they have no religion in the census. Even those who say they are christian are often not actively practising. Not sure ex mining communities particularly went against this trend.

I think going back someone suggested that Christians celebrated deaths too eg of a ex prime minister, a bit like people celebrating the death of the vile leader. Its completely different, they were completely different and not really of any relevance to terrorist leaders at all.

Nothing alike at all and not Christians celebrating because she hurt them, more ex miners or people who disliked her politics, privatisation etc.

Bonkers comparison though.

@YoYoYoYo12345 yeah. Great dead cat though! Lets get back to the subject. I shed no tears for Nasrallah and delighted he is out of the equation.

I'm happy he is gone. He was an evil evil man, and shame on the newspapers who have been busy eulogising him, and downplaying what he did. He caused so much terror, grief, and pain to so many in the region (and worldwide); Israelis and so many more are united today in gratitude and relief, and yes happiness that he is gone.
I would have felt the same had I been alive when Hitler (יש׳ו) died.

Ok, I'm sorry I made the comparison. It's clearly not a good one and has caused unintended offence. It made more sense in my head than it did out loud. I apologise. I'm particularly sorry I made the false assertion that most celebrating Thatcher's death were Christian. It was an untrue statement based entirely on my own ignorance and assumptions.

My intended point was just that it isn't just Muslims who have been known to celebrate deaths as I felt that's what a couple of previous posters were insinuating. I felt that them saying it wasn't Christians celebrating Nasrallah's death implies it was only Muslims doing so. I felt we were heading down the path to becoming an "only Muslims would celebrate death" kind of thread and I wasn't comfortable with that.

Sorry for the inadvertent derail. Let's just accept I was wrong and move on.