Hassan Nasrallah, the veteran chief of the Hizbollah who was killed in an Israeli air strike five months ago, was buried on Sunday after a ceremony in Beirut at which a huge crowd of supporters attended.
Bringing photos of Nasrallah and draped in the yellow flags of the militant group, supporters of Lebanon and beyond filled the Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium with 55,000 seats, with much more spill in the streets outside. The funerals were intended for a demonstration of force for a movement that was beaten in his war with Israel.
Many cried like the coffins of Nasrallah and his successor Hashem Safieddine, who led Hizbollah for just a week before being also murdered by Israel, paraded in the stadium. Some threw flowers, while others threw small objects from the coffins in the hope that they would be blessed by contact.
Nasrallah, 64, was killed with other personalities superior to Hizbollah on September 27, when the Air Force of Israel abandoned dozens of bombs on one of the group’s command posts in the suburbs of Beirut de Beirut Dahiyeh.
While the procession continued on Sunday afternoon, triangular training in Israeli planes F15 and F35 flew over the capital, causing panic and rage below. A woman, her face striated with tears, tightened her young son and looked up with fear.
The stadium broke out of challenge, with the funeral host declaring that the sound of planes would not intimidate anyone. “The roar of our call is greater than all your sounds,” he said, leading the crowd in a song: “At your service, o Nasrallah. Death to Israel.”
The murder of Nasrallah marked a breathtaking blow just a few days after Israel intensified its campaign against the group supported by Iran in a full war, which devastated its leadership and reduced its stock of weapons.
The murder also underlined how the intelligence networks of Israel had penetrated a group whose internal discipline had always been rented.
The war had been triggered when the Hizbollah began to pull rockets towards Israel on October 8, 2023 “in solidarity” with Gaza, after the deadly assault in Hamas on October 7.
At least 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon – many presumed to be hizbollah fighters – while Israeli missiles have lined up on areas from which the group supports.
During its 32 years at the helm, Nasrallah transformed the Shiite group into the pre -eminent force in the Iranian proxys regional network nicknamed the resistance axis.
Until his death, he was venerated not only at home but in the Arab and Muslims worlds for his defense of the Palestinians and his challenge to Israel.
Many of his supporters on Sunday were still struggling with his death.
“Some of us who came here, came with a little hope that we will find [Nasrallah] Living, that he will come out and put our minds at ease, ”said Ali, 21. “But, when the coffin passed, we realized that we had lost any feeling of security.”
“We realized that this country, this region, depended on a specific person, and we lost it,” added Ali. “There is nothing that can describe the feeling. It is as if we lose our father. Everyone here has lost their father.
Hadi, an Iraqi writer, said that he had stolen from Baghdad with a delegation of seven. “Nasrallah is not only a martyr for Lebanon, not only for Shiites, but for all Islam.”
The fervent ally of Hizbollah and the President of the Parliament of Lebanon, Nabih Berri, attended alongside the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Arabhchi and the President of the Parliament Mohammad-Baqer Ghalibaf, as well as religious, political and militia leaders Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen.
Israeli troops remain in five positions at the top of a hill in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries, which has mandated a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces by mid- FEBRUARY. Her Air Force also continued to make air strikes on what she says to be hizbollah positions, including striking targets on Sunday morning.
The militant group suffered a hard blow when its ally Bashar al-Assad was dismissed in Syria last December, sending a vital supply route.
The decrease in the stature of the group is also reflected in the post-war policy of Lebanon. For the first time since the end of the 15 -year civil war in the country in 1990, the cabinet manifesto did not include a language that legitimizes the continuous arsenal of Hezbollah.
Neither the president nor the Minister of Lebanon, nor the Prime Minister, are assisted on Sunday.
In an attempt to stimulate morale, an address broadcast on stadium screens from an unharmed location showed that the leader of Hizbollah, Naim Qassem, reintegrates the crowd that the group remained “strong”.
“We will not submit and will not accept the continuation of our murder and our occupation while looking,” said Qassem.
The crowd started to stop while he was talking.
