Hezbollah prepared a show of strength On Sunday with an elaborate and widespread funeral for his assassination leader, Hassan Nasrallah, an event that hopes and a Iranian militant group of hope want Revive his tortured image in Lebanon After the last war with Israel.
Tens of thousands of people from all over the country and the region are expected at the ceremony on Sunday afternoon, including dignitaries from Iran. It will begin at the largest sports stadium in Lebanon on the southern outskirts of the capital, Beirut, who is decorated with two -story high posters of Mr. Nasrallah and the Slogani who promise to continue the Shiite Muslim resistance he led against Israel.
After the stadium service, Mr. Nasrallah will be buried in a dedicated place near which he will be placed in the holy shrine for the murdered leader, according to the officials of Hezbollah.
Mr. Nasrallah’s funeral “is not a day of sadness or day of forgiveness, but the day of loyalty and renewal of our alliances and promises for our leader,” said Hussein Haj Hassan, a member of the Parliament who was associated with Hezbollah, said at the ceremony at the Beirut Southern Sun Saturday.
He said that the funeral would be a moment to show “allies, as well as our enemies and opponents that we are not and will not weaken or not overcome.”
“And if you increase the challenge,” Mr. Hassan continued, “we will answer decisively.”
The funeral comes five months after Israel killed Mr. Nasrallah on September 27Throwing 80 bombs for a few minutes on his bunker, south of Beirut. By killing Mr. Nasrallah, Israel eliminated a leader who enjoyed almost mythical status among the Lebanese Shiite Muslims. His death was one of the seminar moments in the conflict between the Iranian proxy and Israel, from which Hezbollah came out of significantly weakened.
In the months that followed, the group broke the Israeli forces and its Iron squeeze on Lebanese policy has come undone Given that many Lebanese accused the group of withdrawing the Earth in one of its most deadly and most devastating wars.
Hezbollah and Israel agreed that in November they would force themselves to a forced fire that forced Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon and leave its strongholds along the border with Israel. While Israel agreed to withdraw from Lebanon as part of that truce, Israeli forces remained in parts of southern Lebanon The past deadline for that.
Now Lebanon is at the point of slope.
After a decade of consolidation of power, Hezbollah entered the war as the most dominant political and military force in the country. But it became the shadow of her former self.
For the first time after 20 years there is collecting momentum among the political opponents of Hezbollah Inside Lebanon to take power from the group. The newly appointed country president Michel Aoun vowed to disarm Hezbollah and return the monopoly to the military force to the state.
Last week, the newly appointed Lebanese cabinet accepted a statement about politics that shot directly in Hezbollah, uttering that the state itself had the right to defend the territory of Lebanon. It was the first statement of politics since the civil war in the country ended in 1990, which did not mention the right of the Lebanese people to resist the Israeli occupation – a line that has long helped the legitimation of Hezbollah’s existence.
Mr. Nasrallah’s funeral seems to reflect the struggle for power playing in Lebanon, and Hezbollah used it as an opportunity to pride himself as a political force.
Given that the lowered fans will flood the streets to show their loyalty to Mr. Nasrallah, Hezbollah wants to send a message: Although his leaders were killed, her cash registers are exhausted, Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, full of his patron, Iran, weakened, weakened The group is there to stay.
“The funeral is a trigger,” said Mohanad Hage Ali, an older colleague from the Middle East Center Carnegie in Beirut. “They are trying to invent” and use the death of Mr. Nasrallah “as a mobilizing tool to gather people around their belongings, which took a great hit.”
On Sunday, the funeral will also honor Hashem Safieddine, who effectively led Hezbollah a week after Israel killed the death of Mr. Nasrallah before killing Israel.
The war between Hezbollah and Israel erupted after the Lebanese militia began to shoot Israeli military positions in solidarity with its Palestinian ally, Hamas, Gaza. Hezbollah joined shortly after the shock of Hamas on Israel in October 2023 and the exchanges of strikes that followed tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The conflict suddenly escalated last September, with Israeli forces that attacked large parts of South Lebanon and launched an intense bombing across the country that lasted about two months before the fire was reached in late November.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah watched widely as if he had suffered a stab defeat in the war.
“Hezbollah forced the whole country to this war, but he was not powerful enough to fight,” said Ali March, 34, who works as a shipping driver in Beirut. “South – the most beautiful part of the country – was destroyed because of Hezbollah. Everyone who died in the war is because of this war Hezbollah.”
The group now faces the difficult issues of their supporters about whether they will be able to provide billions of dollars needed to renovate cities and villages that have been flattened in the war.
Provided that the support for renovation will be crucial to reviving the support of the group among followers whose faith in Hezbollah has been tested by this war. After the last war with Israel, in 2006, Hezbollah immediately responded to the cash brochures that Iran brought bankrupt. But his answer is slower this time.
The main land bridge of the Iranian money from Iran via Syria was separated after Assad dictatorships – an important ally to Iran and Hezbollah – the rebels demolished in December.
Last week, Lebanon stopped Iranian flights to Beirut after the Israeli army accused Teheran of using civilian aircraft to smuggle Gotovina for Hezbollah – eliminating anger and ejecting protests among Hezbollah supporters.
Mr. Nasrallah’s loss was also devastating to the public picture of the group. Mr. Nasrallah took responsibility when the group was an underground guerrilla power that fought against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000, and led the organization because it formally entered the Lebanese policy.
He served many roles in the life of Hezbollah members, acting as a religious leader, political strategist and chief commander. His charm, among the leaders in the region, was key to unification of Hezbollah’s followers, with Mr. Nasrallah aroused support in frequent speeches for their fight against Israel and convinced them that the victory was safe.
Before the death of Mr. Nasrallah, Hezbollah did not grow any other leader with Mr. Nasrallah’s stature. The current leader of the group, Naim Qassem, lacks the charisma of Mr. Nasrallah and the unwavering ability to convince Hezbollah’s followers.
Still, experts warn about writing hezbollah.
The continuous presence of Israeli forces in the south of Lebanon offers Hezbollah leverage, effectively giving a new force behind Hezbollah’s raison d’Itre: armed resistance against the Israeli occupation.
And the calculation of a cooking group with the new government has a lot in Lebanon on the edge.
Hezbollah, which the United States appointed a terrorist organization in 1997, showed her willingness to sacrifice anyone – including Lebanese politicians and journalists – who challenges her authority.
One of the most important examples of this was in 2005, when a car bomb in Beirut killed former Prime Minister Raffi Hariri and 22 others. Later, a team of international investigators concluded that Hezbollah was responsible.
“We know that he has been hit, but at the same time they have not yet been disarmed,” said Nader Sami, director of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Saint Joseph in Beirut, referring to Hezbollah.
“They lost the battle with Israel,” he added. “But now there is concern what they will do next. If I can’t use weapons against Israel, will they use them against those in Lebanon? That’s worry.”
Dayana Iwaz contribute to reporting.
