BEIRUT—With the assassination of Hajj Mohammad Afif Al-Naboulsi by the Zionist regime in an air raid, the Resistance loses not merely a media official, but one of the rare architects who shaped collective consciousness in times of war and calm alike. 

Al-Naboulsi was a builder of narratives, a guardian of psychological steadfastness, and one of the principal engineers of the modern media doctrine that fortified Hezbollah against the Israeli enemy’s sprawling propaganda machine.

From the outset, Al-Naboulsi understood that media was not a decorative accessory to the battlefield, rather it was a battlefield. 

His iconic declaration that “Hezbollah is a nation… and nations do not die,” was not a poetic flourish but the distilled essence of his worldview. 

For him, Hezbollah exceeded the framework of military organization; it was a social, cultural, and spiritual project whose greatest arsenal was its ability to define reality before the enemy could distort it.

During the July 2006 war, when bombs fell like iron rain and psychological warfare swirled like a storm cloud, Al-Naboulsi served as the quiet but steady “conductor” of the Resistance’s media operations room. His voice was calm, his analysis precise, and his messaging deliberate — each statement chosen the way a commander chooses the coordinates of a decisive strike.

In those dark weeks, his role in preventing the collapse of public morale was not secondary, it was pivotal. 

While Western and Israeli outlets pushed narratives of impending defeat, he countered with clarity, composure, and a confidence that cut through the noise like a lighthouse cutting through fog. 

His briefings helped dismantle the myth of the “invincible army,” revealing to regional and global audiences a different reality, one in which the Resistance stood firm while the Israeli enemy floundered.

He understood what many only later realized: image is part of victory, and narrative is the unseen backbone of deterrence.

As the Resistance expanded its capabilities, Al-Naboulsi remained one of the most trusted strategists shaping the emerging discourse of deterrence. 

When he announced the targeting of Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, it was not a mere news update — it was a coded strategic message, delivered with the same calm steel that had always defined him.

For Al-Naboulsi, media work was not a reactive duty but a proactive campaign. He urged that the Resistance message be carried beyond Lebanese screens, infiltrating Western public spheres where the Israeli enemy had long held uncontested ground. 

He insisted that the next confrontation would be global in audience even if local in geography — a war fought as much on perception as on terrain. In this, he was ahead of his time.

Despite his influence, Al-Naboulsi was known for humility that belied his position. He avoided theatrics, preferred silence over spectacle, and never sought a spotlight, though he shaped it from behind the curtain. Those who knew him speak of a man deeply connected to ordinary people, grounded, accessible, never intoxicated by authority.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s martyrdom struck him with the weight of a mountain. For the man who had spent years safeguarding Sayyed’s image from smear campaigns, the loss was deeply personal. They say he wept, openly and freely, before rising to declare: “This is Sayyed’s battle… and we continue. This is his will.”

In those words, grief was alchemized into resolve. And in the days that followed, he revived his immortal slogan — “Hezbollah is a nation… and nations do not die” — turning it into the anthem of a new phase in the media struggle.

With his departure, the Resistance loses one of its sharpest minds in the cultural and informational struggle against the Israeli enemy. Al-Naboulsi understood that words can function like military operations, that truth — when delivered with discipline — becomes its own form of resistance. He leaves behind a school of thought, a method, and a line of communication fortified through decades of struggle.

The man has gone, but the architecture he built remains — brick by brick, word by word, battle by battle — a living testament to his conviction that nations do not die.