Hundreds of thousands showed up to the funeral ceremony, with many coming from abroad, especially from Iraq and Iran [Ibrahim Amro/AFP via Getty]
Hezbollah successfully managed to draw a massive crowd to the funeral of its slain leaders on Sunday, in what analysts believe is a show of force after a series of losses for the group.
In what has been called one of the biggest events in Lebanon’s recent history, hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium and the capital’s southern suburbs to bid farewell to longtime Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his successor Hashem Safieddine.
Nasrallah led the Iran-backed Shia militant group for decades and was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 27 September. His would-be successor and cousin, Safieddine, was killed days later.
The war left Hezbollah seriously weakened, with much of its command structure eliminated, thousands of its fighters killed, and much of its infrastructure and arsenal destroyed.
The group has also lost its main arms supply routes from Iran via Syria after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and is under heavy financial scrutiny.
The military setbacks have reflected on Hezbollah’s internal political role.
Despite voting for Joseph Aoun in January and ending a two-year presidential vacuum, Hezbollah and its Shia ally, the Amal Movement, had clung onto ally Sleiman Frangieh to become president, refusing to consider an alternative candidate for the head of state position reserved for a Maronite Christian by convention.
Days after Aoun’s election, Nawaf Salam, the former head of the International Court of Justice, was picked by a majority of lawmakers to become prime minister and formed his cabinet less than a month later.
Hezbollah refused to back Salam and accused its rivals and former allies of attempting to “exclude” Lebanon’s Shias from decision making in the country, run by a delicate and complex power-sharing system.
The numerous military and political blows to Hezbollah and its agreement to a ceasefire deal that obliges it to disarm and hand over it weapons to the Lebanese state has led to the group’s influence dramatically waning.
But the massive funeral procession on Sunday which drew in hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and foreigners may have been an attempt to strengthen the morale of Hezbollah’s supporters and send a message to Israel that the party was still strong and present.
It is also a message to Hezbollah’s internal rivals not to further undermine the group despite its losses in the war, observers believe.
Many Lebanese attendees at the funeral who spoke to the media on Sunday renewed their “pledge of allegiance and loyalty” to Hezbollah, saying that they were willing to sacrifice everything they had “for the resistance,” while praising Nasrallah.
“He taught us the meaning of honour and dignity, of sacrifice and patience, and we will continue in this path,” one woman told a local broadcaster.
One man said “Nasrallah fought for and defended all of Lebanon, not just one sect,” as he chided local media outlets for frequently criticising Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s decision to open a front with Israel in October 2023 in support of Gaza created a deep divide in a country already separated along various sectarian and political lines.
While Hezbollah’s critics have attacked it for dragging Lebanon into a war only the Shia group chose to fight without the Lebanese government’s approval, the group’s supporters have defended their party’s decision on ideological grounds, saying it was their “religious and moral duty”.
Many of Hezbollah’s rivals are counting on the group’s support base or civilians living in areas largely destroyed by Israel to turn against Hezbollah, as frustration grows over a lack of financial compensation.
Swathes of southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and Shia-majority towns in the eastern Beqaa region are left devastated, and reconstruction is expected to be slow as long as Hezbollah’s finances remain strained.
Gulf Arab and Western states have promised Lebanon reconstruction aid and support for the country to recover after years of economic crisis, but only when deep-rooted reforms and the ceasefire deal are implemented.
The 27 November deal is in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006 following the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah.
It calls for the full disarmament of all militant groups in Lebanon – in what is believed to be mainly a reference to Hezbollah – and full government control over the nation’s territory.
Israel must also leave territories in south Lebanon it still occupies, but instead, Israeli forces have maintained troops in five strategic positions along the border after pulling out of most of southern Lebanon on 18 February.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed on Sunday to continue the resistance against Israel.
“Nasrallah’s path will be completed even if our homes are destroyed over our heads and we are all killed,” 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,” he said, adding that Israel must withdraw from all areas it still occupies.
“We committed to the [ceasefire] agreement, but Israel did not, and here begins the responsibility of the Lebanese state,” he added.
Continued military activity would essentially be a violation of the ceasefire deal Hezbollah agreed to, but some believe Qassem is merely saying this to appease his party’s support base.
Hezbollah and its community need time to come to terms with the power shift that has happened in Lebanon and in the region, observers believe.
The huge number of people at the funeral ceremony on Sunday undoubtedly shows the wide support Hezbollah still enjoys, and some believe that continued criticism or attacks against the group will only further consolidate this backing.
Now, with its leaders laid to rest, Hezbollah turns a page in its more than 40 years of existence, amid drastic changes taking place in Lebanon and the Middle East.
What happens in the coming months, and the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year, are expected to be pivotal for Hezbollah and its future.
