Hundreds of people carrying candles and crying participated on Saturday in a ceremony organized by Hezbollah in the Beirut suburb where the leader of the Islamist movement Hassan Nasrallah was killed two months ago by an Israeli bombing.
In the enormous crater left by the bombardment and in the surrounding pile of rubble, candles and yellow flags of Hezbollahilluminated by red light bulbs.
Loudspeakers broadcast speeches by Nasrallah and his giant portraits adorned all the still-standing but damaged buildings surrounding the site.
NasrallahIt was everything for us. If only we had died and he was still alive!”, stated Lama, a 30-year-old woman, who attended the ceremony with her 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.
“At your command, Nasrallah!” the young people cried, waving the flag of the powerful Lebanese formation over the ruins, while men and women sobbed.
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“I can’t believe he’s dead,” said Lea, an 18-year-old student who came with her friends.
On Wednesday he entered Truce enforces between Israel and Hezbollahafter thirteen months of cross-border clashes and two of an open war that decimated the leaders of the pro-Iranian group and left almost 4,000 dead in Lebanon.
Since late September, Israel has carried out intense bombing of the southern suburbs of Beirut, strongholds of Hezbollah.
The September 27 attack, which killed Nasrallah in an underground bunker, destroyed several buildings.
In the same attack, other commanders of the Islamist formation perished, including a commander of the front with Israel in southern Lebanon, and a senior official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Nasrallah was buried in an undisclosed location, fearing that his funeral would be the target of an Israeli attack.
The Shita movement (a branch of Islam) announced after the ceasefire that it was preparing a “popular” funeral for its late leader, without specifying the date.
