Abbas al-Musawi

Abbas al-Musawi (Arabic عباس الموسوي)(c.1952 - February 16 1992) was an influential Muslim cleric and leader of Hezbollah. He was assassinated by Israeli forces in 1992.

Musawi was born in the village of al-Nabi Shayth in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, and studied in a religious school in al-Najaf, Iraq. He was deeply influenced by the views of Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He returned to Lebanon in 1978.

In 1991, Hezbollah chose Musawi as its secretary-general. Musawi was seen as a moderate, relative to others in the organization, replacing hard-liner Sheikh Subhi al-Tufayli. Still, Musawi called Israel "the cancer of the Middle East" and promised Hezbollah would "wipe out every trace of Israel in Palestine" and "intensify its military, political and popular action in order to undermine the peace-talks" (Middle East International, November 8 1991).

On February 16 1992, Israeli helicopters attacked a motorcade in southern Lebanon, killing Musawi, his wife, son, and four others. Israel said the attack had been planned as an assassination attempt. A group called "Islamic Jihad" carried out the Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires in retaliation for Musawi's death. Musawi was succeeded as secretary-general of Hezbollah by Hassan Nasrallah.