Tens of thousands of people gathered at a Beirut stadium Sunday for the funeral for Hezbollah’s top commander — chanting, “Death to America!’’ as they mourned the fiend killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The massive event for Hassan Nasrallah — one of Hezbollah’s original founders who was killed in Lebanon five months ago — kicked off with the crowds screaming the anti-US hate along with “Death to Israel!” in the packed, 55,000-seat Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium and surrounding streets.
The public funeral was seen as a way for the terror group to tout its strength after suffering major blows during a 14-month war with Israel that decimated its leadership and rank-and-file operatives.
Tens of thousands packed a stadium in Beirut for the funeral. AFP via Getty Images
Crews spent their Saturday setting up the stadium for the funeral. WAEL HAMZEH/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe move’s effectiveness was undercut by the presence of Israeli Air Force jets flying low over Beirut as a means to send “a message to Hezbollah,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
“Whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel — that will be the end of him,” Katz said in a statement.
“You will focus on funerals — and we will focus on victories.”
A stadium full of people attended the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday. REUTERS
The funeral is likely Lebanon’s largest in two decades. REUTERSHours before the funeral, Israel had launched a series of airstrikes in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah missile rocket launchers, which should have been removed as part of a cease-fire deal.
Hezbollah had spent weeks preparing for the funeral, which included giant screens placed along the airport road outside the stadium for people who didn’t get a space inside to watch the funeral.
Senior Hezbollah official Ali Daamoush told reporters Saturday that about 800 VIPs from 65 countries were scheduled to attend the funeral, in addition to thousands of individuals and activists from around the world.
A trailer carrying the coffins containing the bodies of Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah and his cousin and successor Hashem Safieddine drives through the crowd as it enters the Sports City Stadium during a funeral procession in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. AP
Tight security measures and road closures were in place for the large crowds. REUTERS“Come from every home, village and city so that we tell the enemy that this resistance will stay and is ready in the field,” Daamoush said, referring to Israel.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were among those flying in to join Lebanese officials for the procession, which is believed to be the largest funeral in the nation in the past two decades.
Many of the civilian attendees said they were still in disbelief over the death of Nasrallah, who was killed when the Israeli Air Force dropped more than 80 bombs on the terror group’s main base in September.
Mourners wave Hezbollah flags as a trailer carrying the coffins proceeds. AP“[I] cannot believe what happened,” said Sahar al-Attar, a mourner who traveled from Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, to The Associated Press.
“We would have come even under bullets” to attend Nasrallah’s burial, she said. “It is an indescribable feeling.”
Nasralla will be laid to rest later Sunday in Beirut, while his slain cousin and successor, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed the next month, is scheduled to be buried in southern Lebanon.
With Post wires
