AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Israel's killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, has left the Middle East even more exposed to the possibility of a wider war. The news of Nasrallah's death was met with intensity, both rage and joy. And these opposing reactions, as NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports, show just how deep divisions run in the region.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in non-English language).
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: In Northern Syria, they began celebrating even before Nasrallah's death was confirmed - pure joy.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLING)
FARED AL MAHLOOL: (Through interpreter) Words cannot describe how happy we are feeling.
SHERLOCK: Syrian journalist Fared Al Mahlool is in Idlib, a rebel-held part of Syria that's been pummeled by Hezbollah alongside the Syrian regime in the 12 years the country has been in civil war. Nasrallah sent Hezbollah fighters to prop up the regime, as it appeared to be in trouble.
AL MAHLOOL: (Through interpreter) Too many people have been displaced, killed and lost their beloved because of Nasrallah's support to the Syrian regime.
SHERLOCK: In Israel, overnight and early Saturday morning, people celebrated. In Tel Aviv, residents of an apartment blasted this popular song against Nasrallah. We'll take you down, God willing, it says, and send you back to God along with all of Hezbollah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
SHERLOCK: As Hezbollah broadcast its confirmation that Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed militant group for 32 years, was dead, along with other commanders, there was rage and grief from Hezbollah supporters.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in non-English language).
SHERLOCK: In Ramallah in the West Bank streets filled with Palestinians chanting promises to continue resistance against Israel. In the eulogy, a Hamas leader said Nasrallah's soul was, quote, "inside the birds of the heaven."
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in non-English language).
SHERLOCK: And in the Shia Muslim majority city of Basra, in Iraq, thousands walked wearing black. In the Iraqi parliament, politicians sobbed as the political representatives of a militia aligned to Hezbollah spoke in sorrow of Nasrallah's passing. Iraq and parts of Yemen, controlled by Iran-backed Houthi militias, have declared several days of mourning, as has, of course, Hezbollah's backer, Iran. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, warned that, quote, "the blood of the martyr shall not go unavenged." But what could this revenge look like?
HAIDER SALMAN: Iran when they reach to the point of a country versus country war, they will not do it.
SHERLOCK: Haider Salman, a political analyst, doesn't believe that even now Iran wants to enter a direct war with Israel. Iran knows Israel is militarily superior. But that doesn't mean, Salman says, that the militias Iran calls its axis of resistance in the region - Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shia militias in Iraq - won't respond. As night fell in Iraq on Saturday, videos showed angry protesters clash with riot police as they tried to reach the U.S. embassy in the green zone in Baghdad.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: And in Israel, sirens sounded sending Israelis to shelter from a missile fired from Yemen.
Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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