Tens of thousands vow support for Hezbollah at Beirut funeral of slain leader

BEIRUT - Tens of thousands of mourners dressed in black vowed support for Hezbollah at the Beirut funeral of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah on Feb 23, after the group was dealt major blows in its last round of hostilities with Israel.

Women wailed as a black truck carrying the coffins of Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine – Nasrallah’s chosen successor killed in another Israeli air strike before he could assume the post – slowly moved through the crowd, topped with two black turbans and draped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag.

The September

killing of the charismatic leader,

who guided the Lebanese movement for more than three decades, dealt a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group’s reputation as a fighting force.

But Hezbollah, which also played a major role in the country’s politics for decades, has long had a support base in the country’s majority Shi’ite Muslim community by providing social and economic services.

The funeral ceremony for Nasrallah and Safieddine began at 1pm at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut.

Excerpts of Nasrallah’s speeches were blasted in the stadium with tens of thousands of supporters raising their fists in the air and chanting “we are at your service Nasrallah” and “we are loyal to the promise Nasrallah”.

Many men, women and children from Lebanon and beyond walked on foot in the biting cold to reach the site of the ceremony, delayed for security reasons after Nasrallah’s death in a massive Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion in September.

One of them was Ms Umm Mahdi, 55, who had come “to see him (Nasrallah) one last time and see his shrine... Of course, we feel sadness”.

“This is the least we can do for Sayyed who gave up everything,” she added, using an honorific.

Women in long black robes and men carrying portraits of Nasrallah burst into tears as excerpts of his speeches were broadcast on a screen.

AFP correspondents at the stadium said the venue, which organisers said could accommodate roughly 78,000 people, was fully packed.

“Heroes of the resistance”

As the crowds gathered, Lebanese state media reported

Israeli strikes on areas in Lebanon’s south,

including a location about 20km from the border, with Israel’s military saying it had struck “rocket launchers”.

The Israeli army in a tweet ahead of the start of the funeral said “the world is a better place”.

Israel has carried out multiple strikes in Lebanon since

a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah

went into effect on Nov 27, ending more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war.

The funeral comes days after the deadline for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon’s south, with Israeli troops pulling out from all but five locations. Both sides have accused each other of violating the truce.

President Joseph Aoun asked Hezbollah ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to represent him at the ceremony, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was to be represented by Labour Minister Mohammed Haidar.

Hezbollah’s weakening in the war was widely seen as having contributed to the election of Mr Aoun, who named Mr Salam as his premier in January after two years of leadership vacuum.

Iranian speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in attendance, with representatives of Iraq’s main pro-Iran factions also expected to come.

Mr Araghchi, in a speech from Beirut, described the slain leaders as “two heroes of the resistance” and vowed that “the path of resistance will continue”.

Analyst and researcher Sam Heller of the Century Foundation think tank told AFP that it was “important for the group to demonstrate that it remains a major social and political force, despite some of the setbacks it’s been dealt”.

Since Feb 22, roads into Beirut have been clogged with carloads of Hezbollah supporters travelling in from the movement’s other power centres in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, in Lebanon’s east.

Ms Khouloud Hamieh, 36, said she came from the east to mourn the leader she said was “dearest to our souls”.

“The feeling is indescribable, my heart is beating (so fast),” she said, her eyes filled with tears.

Despite cold weather and large crowds, she said she would not have missed the funeral for anything.

“Even if we had to crawl to get here, we would still come” she said.

“Dearest to our souls”

A procession will then follow to the site near the airport highway where Nasrallah will be buried. Safieddine will be interred in his southern hometown of Deir Qanun al-Nahr on Feb 24.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said the movement was deploying 25,000 members for crowd control. A security source said 4,000 troops and security personnel would also be deployed to the area.

Civil aviation authorities said Beirut airport will close exceptionally from midday until 4pm.

Hezbollah has asked mourners to refrain from firing in the air, a dangerous but common practice at funerals in parts of Lebanon.

The defence ministry said it would freeze gun licences from Feb 22 to 25.

A founding member of Hezbollah in 1982, Nasrallah won renown around the Arab world in May 2000 when Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon under relentless attack by the group under his leadership.

In the decades since, views about Hezbollah in Lebanon have become increasingly polarised, with many criticising the group for initiating hostilities with Israel in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas. AFP