A trailer carrying the coffins containing the our bodies of Hezbollah’s former chief Hassan Nasrallah and his cousin and successor Hashem Safieddine drives by way of the group throughout a funeral procession on the Sports activities Metropolis Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (
Hassan Ammar/AP
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Hassan Ammar/AP
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah buried its founder Hassan Nasrallah in an enormous state-like funeral on Sunday, marking the top of an period for the militant Shiite group. Hezbollah held the occasion amid vows that followers would proceed his legacy of resistance towards Israel and america.
Nasrallah, 64, was killed final September when Israel bombed a excessive rise constructing with an underground command middle in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Even at his funeral, Israel made its presence identified — low-flying Israeli fighter jets broke the sound barrier over Beirut — prompting chants of “loss of life to Israel.”
Within the midst of waves of Israeli airstrikes late final yr, the Iran-backed group selected to briefly bury Nasrallah and his successor Hashem Safeidine — who was killed by Israel just a few days later — till it may maintain a funeral akin to that of a head of state.
The funeral was held in a 50,000-seat sports activities stadium in Beirut, which was packed to capability. Outdoors, the group arrange large tv screens for these it couldn’t accommodate inside. Hezbollah stated officers from dozens of nations attended the funeral, together with senior officers from Iran and Iraq. Lebanon introduced it could shut its airspace for 4 hours in the course of the funeral proceedings for safety causes.
Folks collect for the funeral ceremony of the Lebanon’s late Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine on the Sports activities Metropolis Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025.
Hassan Ammar/AP
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Hassan Ammar/AP
The 2 coffins, draped in yellow and inexperienced Hezbollah flags, have been loaded right into a glass enclosure on the again of a flatbed truck for the funeral procession by way of the stadium. Hezbollah fighters standing subsequent to the coffins threw flowers to the group.
Some within the crowd sobbed as organizers performed excerpts from Nasrallah’s speeches.
In November, Lebanon signed a US-brokered ceasefire, ending what had flared into all-out preventing between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah had begun assaults on Israel in help of Hamas in Gaza in October 2023. Hezbollah negotiated its a part of the settlement by way of Lebanese authorities proxies, because it doesn’t have the standing of a state.
On the funeral, Hezbollah Secretary Basic Naim Qassim advised the group that his group agreed to the ceasefire as a result of to reject it could have been to needlessly sacrifice extra lives.
“The resistance is right here to remain — we’ll act at any time when we deem it acceptable,” he stated.
The US labeled Hezbollah as a terror group after the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut.
To Nasrallah’s tens of millions of followers — most however not all of them Shiite Muslim — he was the embodiment of resistance towards injustice, having led Hezbollah for over 30 years.
His loss of life by the hands of Israel was thought of by followers an inevitable martyrdom. Within the Shiite Muslim religion, a martyr is the best expression of honor — harkening again to the beginnings of Shiite Islam with the seventh century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in Karbala in what’s now Iraq.
“His want was to be a martyr,” stated Majida Naji, who was strolling to the stadium. “In fact resembling particular person doesn’t die with out being a martyr — it could be unimaginable for him to die a traditional loss of life.”
“With out Sayyid Hassan there can be no Lebanon, actually,” stated Naji, referring to the wide-spread perception amongst Lebanese that Lebanon would now be occupied by Israel if Hezbollah had not rebuffed Israeli forces. Sayyid is an honorific, referring to a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad.
She carried a portrait of Nasrallah and wore a pin with a photograph of her brother-in-law who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb.
The Lebanese mourners included households — some carrying younger kids on their shoulders, laborers who had taken the day without work work, and others from all segments of society.
“Sayyid Hassan planted his soul in us,” stated Sausan Kamal al-Din, a mom of two, sporting modern black sun shades and heavy gold bracelets. “He planted every part in us — we’ll proceed in his path,” she stated.
Jawad Rizkallah contributed reporting from Beirut
