Nasrallah made Hezbollah into a potent force

For almost two decades, Hassan Nasrallah, 64, the secretary general of Hezbollah — who was targeted in an Israeli attack on Friday and whose status remains unclear — has avoided public appearances out of concern that he would be assassinated.

The beard beneath the black turban marking him as a Shiite Muslim cleric has turned almost white over his 32 years in charge of Hezbollah, during which time Nasrallah has built it into a potent force. Hezbollah has become both a political organization that holds sway in fractured Lebanon and an army equipped with ballistic missiles that can threaten Tel Aviv.