Facebook does not ‘like’ Hezbollah leader’s birthday

Facebook cancelled an online “event” celebrating the birthday of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday, the day he turned 52, Lebanese media has reported.

Assafir newspaper said around 7,000 users of the social networking site had signed up to “attend” the event with 52 apparent Hezbollah supporters writing on the event’s page to congratulate the leader.

“Congratulations to us that we were born in a Nasrallah’s era,” one supporter reportedly wrote, while another describing himself as a “Hezbollah fighter” said, “52 years have passed and Nasrallah has rejected oppression...and stayed as banner of victory.”

Hours after a user launched the birthday event, Facebook had scrapped the page. Deleting a Hezbollah page or an account related to Facebook has happened in the past, as those who object to the group’s agenda have filed complaints urging the social network’s administration to delete the accounts.

Nasrallah was born on August 31, 1960. He became the third Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the previous leader, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992.

The United States, the Netherlands, Israel, and Canada have declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization.