Arab Media: Hezbollah Chief Reportedly Afflicted With COVID-19

Lebanese journalist Maria Maalouf cited Arab media’s report Wednesday that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah incurred the deadly COVID-19 virus. No confirmation of the news has been made so far, however. Nasrallah has allegedly contracted the virus from a delegation from Iran, which supports his terror group financially.

According to World Israel News, Nasrallah has reportedly been placed under quarantine, along with other senior members of Hezbollah. The head of the group’s Executive Council, Hashim Safi Al-Din, has also been quarantined, along with other senior Hezbollah members that fell ill following the meeting.

Iran has long been a hotbed of the deadly COVID-19 in the Middle East. Since February, several people in Iran had been affected by the disease. Two elderly people had died in the country in February, Al Jazeera reported. They were also among the first fatalities of the virus outbreak in Iran. According to Iranian Health Minister Alireza Vahabzadeh, the victims suffered acute lung infections that were further compounded by the virus.

The virus, which originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, is responsible for around eight deaths at that time. During that period, there had been more than 2,000 people globally who died from it and more than 75,000 people infected. In the Middle East, Iran, along with the United Arab Emirates, was among the first countries at the time to report cases of the deadly virus in their countries.

China and Italy remained at the top of the worldwide tally of deaths from coronavirus. Iran, with 354 reported deaths, placed second to these countries. Iran has its own high-ranking officials who have incurred the virus. Vice President Eshaq Jahangir, along with other senior Iranian ministers, have also been infected by the deadly virus.

Hassan Nasrallah is the third Secretary-General of Hezbollah and has been in this position since February 1992. He has been controversial for his strong anti-Israeli stance and has been a strong critic of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan. There has been no further news confirming that the Hezbollah leader is indeed afflicted with the coronavirus.