Beirut – On Friday evening in September, a swarm of Israeli warplanes fell through the sky of Lebanon and dropped about 85 tons of bombs with fake sultans on many buildings in Dahia, the suburbs dominated by Hezbollah in the south of the capital, Beirut, Beirut .
The missiles were depth in the ground, and obliterated two blocs in the city with their target: Hezbollah underground, where Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the armed group, was a long -standing enemy of Israel, meeting with his lieutenant. He announced his death shortly.
On Sunday, about five months later, hundreds of thousands near this place in Dahi to bury their fallen leader, and participated in a detailed presentation of the challenge that was aimed at proving that the group backed by Iran, despite its bruises in its war with Israel, was by no A consumed power.
On Sunday morning, the streets of Beirut were flooded with the Lebanese forces and the policemen who are trying to manage the traffic operations occupied by the mourners on their way to the Capital Stadium to start the celebration ceremony for hours.
They entered the last stadium with high signs of two floors who depicted Nasrallah alongside his cousin and his background, Hashem Sanddin, who was killed in a separate Israeli air strike. Many carry the flags of the Lebanese or the Green and Yellow Hezbollah; Others raised posters from the relatives who were killed in the war. Before noon, the stadium – which was more than 50,000 was the largest in Lebanon – was full.
One of the attendees was 36 years old, he lost 12 family members in the war.
A trailer bearing the coffins containing the bodies of the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his cousin and his successor, Hashem Sanddin, leads to the crowd when he enters the Sports City stadium during a funeral procession in Beirut on Sunday.
(Hassan Ammar / Associated Press)
“It’s 13 with Sayed,” referring to Nasrallah with honor. “It is part of my family too,” she said, holding a poster with pictures of her deceased relatives.
Among those who lost her brother, a Hezbollah leader who said he was returning to the house on the eve of the ceasefire who came into effect in November. An Israeli blow targeted his home, which led to his death, along with the fathers of Tles, his nephews and other relatives. Tlais house was also destroyed.
“I feel proud because I sacrificed, and I gave her this path,” she said with her hateful voice, but he is firm.
“Those who do not understand why we are happy to do so do not understand our cause. We tell us: We taught us to live in dignity, but you did not teach us how to live without you.”
The war with Israel began when Hezbollah began a missile campaign against northern Israel to support its ally, the Palestinian group Hamas, after October 7, 2023, an attack on southern Israel. She followed months of swimming strikes, and tens of thousands of people retreated on both sides of the Lebanese border, Israel.
Harmese works escalated in September when Israel fired air strikes and then invaded southern Lebanon. By the time when the ceasefire was stopped, the death toll in Lebanon was nearly 4000, with more than four times the number of this number, according to the Lebanese authorities, who said that most of them were civilians.
Fire and smoke rises from an Israeli air strike in Beirut in October 2024.
(Bilal Hussein / Associated Press)
The Israeli army forces have withdrawn from most southern Lebanon, with the exception of five positions on top of the hill near the border; The Air Force continues to bomb what it says is Hezbollah’s goals. During the funeral, the Israeli army conducted air strikes in southern Lebanon and the Becca Valley in the east of the country.
Hezbollah is believed to have lost thousands of its cadres, including the highest levels of its military leadership, and a large part of its arsenal in fighting. Many people in Lebanon see that the group has suffered a deadly blow, but its leaders insist on the fact that its survival proves otherwise.
“The resistance remains strong and strong, and it continues,” said Naim Al -Qassem, the group’s new leader, in a televised speech.
It was a message that resonated with the supporters of the group.
“Only see those around you, everyone gathered here-our presence here is victory,” said Patol Hamdon, 37, who was on the field with her children, Hassan and Mohamed, 11, who was both boys in military fatigue. With the Hezbollah badge. On the fold of the jacket, it was a pin carrying a picture of Ali Zahwi, her husband, which is Hezbollah’s work that was killed in an Israeli attack during the war.
Despite all that she lost, Hamdoun was not shaking in her support for God. She intended that both Hassan and Muhammad be introduced into the battlefields in the group.
“That is why I put them in the uniform today. So people know that they are on the right path.”
With Nasrallah’s burial, Hezbollah is putting to rest a figure who left an indelible mark on the faction, which helped to turn it over more than 30 years of its resurrection. Preparations began to be planned to be a huge event weeks ago, as Hezbollah cadres races to build a shrine to arrest Nasrallah, and to coordinate the 70 international delegations, along with thousands of activists and influencers on the expected social media.
It was one of the largest delegations of Hezbollah’s main sponsor, Iran, which sent Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragichi, and the parliamentarian Muhammad Bragher Qunbaf.
Arashi said: “The funeral of today will make the world see that the resistance is alive, that Hezbollah is alive, that these people are loyal to its values, and that the path of resistance will continue.” He referred to the so-called axis of the resistance, and the network led by Iran from the paramilitary factions-from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Ghaz and the pre-Syria-against the United States and Israel.
Sayed Hassan was above the first rank. “It was a rise in the Eye of Israel and the United States,” said Adel, who is 34 years old, from the semi-military faction-one of the thousands of Iraqis who flew from Baghdad to the ceremony. He only gave his first name to avoid harassment.
People are attending the funeral ceremony for former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his cousin and successor, Hashem Sanddin, at the City Sport City stadium in Beirut on Sunday.
(Hassan Ammar / Associated Press)
He was not only for Lebanon, but the whole world. When we heard about his martyrdom, we were all affected. “
With the passage of the afternoon, the platform bearing the coffins of Nasrallah and Safieddine made its way through the crowd, throwing many scarves, pieces of fabric and souvenirs in the attendees, who touched them to the coffins before throwing them again.
At some point, a group of Israeli warplanes guided on the field before heading towards the sea – a “clear message”, according to a statement on the X of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, “who threatens to destroy Israel and attack Israel – that will be an end to it.
“You will specialize in funerals – we will specialize in victories,” books.
Despite Hezbollah’s speech, the funeral comes at a sensitive time for the group, which before the war had arisen an atmosphere of the most powerful political faction in Lebanon and combat power that is superior to the Lebanese army.
As the group that was beaten the war was exposed, its opponents in Lebanon are now spying an opportunity to break what they say is Hezbollah’s strangling over the state. In recent weeks, the hostile parties of Heizab Allah have worked together to choose a president and a prime minister who adopts policies to cancel the group and strip them of their arsenal.
“Lebanon is tired of the wars of others on its soil,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said at a meeting on Sunday with the template of the parliamentary spokesman. He stressed that the conference was not in the affairs of other countries.
Hezbollah’s division organization said that these banking services are due to the supposed group weakness. Although he was waiting for the Lebanese government to withdraw the full Israeli with diplomatic means, Hezbollah is still fighting when the need arose.
He said: “The resistance is still present and strong in numbers and weapons.”
“Unavoidable victory is coming.”