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THE FUNERAL OF HEZBOLLAH LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH  
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Sharif Abdel Kouddous
February 23, 2025
Drop Site News
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_ Today's funeral was a display of mourning and a show of strength by
Hezbollah at a time of internal crisis in Lebanon and an
ultra-belligerent Israeli regime threatening more war. _

The coffins of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his
successor Hashem Saffiedine are brought into the stadium during the
funeral ceremony in Beirut on February 23, 2025., Photo by Sharif
Abdel Kouddous

 

BEIRUT, Lebanon—Hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets
of Beirut and packed into a stadium on Sunday for the funeral of
former Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. One of the most
prominent Arab leaders of his generation, Nasrallah was killed on
September 27 when Israel dropped more than eighty tons of munitions on
a residential compound in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh as he
was meeting with senior Hezbollah officials in an underground bunker.
The massive strike also killed an unknown number of civilians.

The enormous crowds on Sunday were a clear assertion of support and
presence for Hezbollah, which suffered heavy losses in Israel’s war
on Lebanon, including Nasrallah—its leader of more than 30
years—as well as many of the group’s top commanders and much of
its rank and file. The funeral ceremony also included Nasrallah’s
cousin and successor, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli
airstrike a few days later.

Mourners streamed in from Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern
Lebanon on Saturday—traveling north to Beirut by car, on foot, and
even on horseback to take part in the funeral. Large billboards
bearing images of a smiling Nasrallah next to Safieddine with slogans
like “We are not defeated” stand high all along Lebanon’s
coastal highway.

Security measures were put in place for the ceremony, including
shutting down Beirut airport and closing down major roads in the
capital. Huge screens were set up on the roads leading to the site for
the crowds who were not able to make it into the stadium, which was
full to capacity. Large delegations of supporters from Iran, Yemen,
Iraq, and other countries in the region mixed in with the crowds.

Nasrallah and Safieddine were temporarily buried in secret graves
after they were killed nearly five months ago, with Hezbollah unable
to hold a public funeral while the war was raging. A 60-day ceasefire
agreement between Israel and Lebanon went into effect on November 26,
with Israel violating the deal hundreds of times, including extending
the deadline for a withdrawal of its troops on January 26 to February
18, when they finally pulled back from villages in the south, but
remain illegally occupying five hilltop locations inside Lebanon.

“Nasrallah's path will be completed even if our homes are destroyed
over our heads and we are all killed," Hezbollah’s current Secretary
General Naim Qassem said during the funeral ceremony in a televised
speech. "The resistance is present and strong in numbers and
capabilities, and the inevitable victory is coming, and Israel must
withdraw from the areas it still occupies.”

Israel continued to violate the ceasefire on Sunday, bombing several
locations in southern Lebanon. In the middle of the funeral ceremony,
four Israeli fighter jets flew low over the stadium with a deafening
noise, prompting the crowd to chant louder, “Death to Israel. Death
to the United States.”

Mourners on the streets of Beirut during the funeral procession of
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. February 23, 2025. (Photo by Sharif
Abdel Kouddous)

Shortly afterwards, Nasrallah’s coffin, draped in yellow, was
brought out into the stadium, alongside Saffiedine’s, on a large
semi-trailer truck converted into a funeral hearse which made a slow
loop around the track. Men and women wept openly and chanted slogans
of support as Hezbollah officials standing alongside the
coffins—including Nasrallah’s long time bodyguard Abu Ali
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flowers to the wailing crowd below.

“To us, he was not just the secretary general of Hezbollah, he was
our father,” said Fatima, who came from southern Lebanon to attend
the ceremony. “He held the nation in his embrace. He defended not
just Lebanon, he defended Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, he defended all the
oppressed.”

Under Nasrallah’s leadership, Hezbollah grew from a militia into one
of the most powerful political movements in the Arab world and a
formidable fighting force in the region. A charismatic speaker,
Nasrallah was widely recognized as an anti-colonial figure, an
outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause, and a leading figure in
the Axis of Resistance—the loose coalition of both nation-states and
non-state actors in the Middle East who pledged to jointly oppose
Israel.

Hezbollah’s status in the region soared after the 2006 war, which
was seen as a victory over Israel. But when Nasrallah intervened in
the Syrian civil war on the side of former President Bashar al-Assad,
it damaged the group’s standing, spurring intense divisions among
Hezbollah’s broader base of support in the region between those who
supported Assad and those who opposed his regime.

As a juggernaut in Lebanese politics, Hezbollah also worked to
suppress popular protests that broke out across Lebanon in October
2019 that demanded an end to sectarianism and corruption framed by the
chant: “All of them means all of them”—which included Hezbollah.

Nonetheless, when Israel began its genocidal assault on Gaza on
October 7, 2023, Hezbollah opened what it called a “front of
support” for Hamas and began firing rockets and artillery at Israeli
forces, while every other Arab nation except Yemen largely stood by.
Israel retaliated by bombing Lebanon, mostly in the south. The cross
border attacks continued for nearly a year before Israel escalated the
war in September, detonating hundreds of beepers and walkie talkies
belonging to Hezbollah members, killing dozens of civilians and
injuring almost 3,500. A few days later, Israel launched Operation
Northern Arrows, dramatically intensifying its aerial bombardment and
launching a ground invasion—killing over 4,000 people and forcing
more than 1.2 million to flee their homes.

The killing of Nasrallah in September caused shockwaves throughout
Lebanon and the region. Hezbollah’s opponents inside Lebanon and
internationally have been seeking to further weaken the group and
replace it as the most powerful force in the country. The Trump
administration demanded that Hezbollah be barred from the newly
reconfigured Lebanese government. On a visit to Lebanon earlier this
month, U.S. Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus said, “We are
grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah.” She added:
"And we have set clear red lines from the United States that they
won't be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that includes by
being a part of the government.”

Mourners at the funeral ceremony of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
February 23, 2025. (Photo by Lama al-Arian)

Today’s funeral was not only a display of mourning but also a show
of strength by Hezbollah as it continues to assert itself as a major
player in the political and military landscape of Lebanon without
Nasrallah as its leader.

“He was our father,” Dalia, a mourner from southern Lebanon, said,
echoing a common refrain. “We listened to every single speech he
ever gave. When he would appear we would feel comforted. He was our
morphine.”

_Lama al-Arian contributed to this report._

_[MODERATOR - ALSO OF INTEREST: ILLUSIONS OF CONTAINMENT BY TOM
STEVENSON
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LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, FEBRUARY 6, 2025_

_SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS is a journalist and editor at Drop Site News._

_Independent news on politics and war. Founded by Ryan Grim, Jeremy
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* Hezbollah
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* Hassan Nasrallah
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* Lebanon
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* Israel
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