“We are orphaned by this loss, and even now we can’t imagine that we will have to bury him,” a young Lebanese woman told Splinter. “When the casket appears, only then will it be real, and I dread this moment more than you can imagine.” While Western news outlets tend to see Nasrallah only through the distorted lens of the United States’ designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group, locals have long viewed him and Hezbollah as the chief defenders of their homeland against a foreign aggressor who President Ronald Reagan once even said was perpetrating a “holocaust” in Beirut over forty years ago. It is easy for those not affected by Israel’s crimes, condemned by the United Nations, to accept the United States’ simplistic framing of Hezbollah as terrorists who just want to destroy Israel, but those in Lebanon living under Israel’s decades-long siege understand the classic phrase “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” as much as anyone in the world.
An estimated 1.4 million mourners filled Beirut, with countries from around the world and people of different religious sects and political alliances represented. The flags of Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, Ireland and Brazil were among many that rose across the stadium, as well as the flags of the Lebanese Communist Party, and the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Photo by Roqayah Chamseddine
One young man from Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, described his attendance as a way to offer his love and support “to those who gave their lives for Palestine, the highest among them Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.” In an interview given days after the funeral, an Iraqi surgeon who served in Gaza during the genocide, Dr. Muhammad Tahir, wept. “His departure has broken my back and the back of the people of Gaza. We are heartbroken. On the day of his funeral, we were devastated over him. We felt like one of the pillars of resistance was gone,” he said. Dr. Tahir’s sentiments echo all those I met during the procession, who were consumed with sadness over the loss of their leader.
Two brothers, Rachid and Anas, huddled together over a makeshift fire in front of the stadium, describing their first ever flight out of their home country of Morocco in order to come to the funeral. “I flew here from Morocco with my brother because we wanted to give our support to the people of Lebanon, who dedicated their martyrs on the path to the liberation of Palestine. Sayyed Hassan was not just a Lebanese icon, but an icon for all humanity. This loss will be felt for generations.”
As the caskets of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine appeared before thousands, four Israeli fighter jets flew overheard. Despite this clear intimidation, there was no sense of fear present, and cries of “humiliation is far from us!” rose out from the crowd. “The martyred Sayyed Hassan should terrify Israel more than the living Sayyed Hassan,” an elderly man from the village of Houla, who stood clutching a photo of Nasrallah, told Splinter. “They think these types of acts will sow fear into our hearts, but by God we are more determined than before to hold firmly to the path he laid out for us. The sky could fall on us, and we would remain undeterred.” Defiance is a feature of a community constantly threatened by Israel, as exemplified when 23-year-old Zainab, a university student told Splinter when locals were returning to their homes after Israel’s assault on Beirut, “we came back because we can’t leave. This is home and it will always be home, no matter what the Israelis do to us. Every building could have fallen, and we’d still come back. We’re going to rebuild the suburb, all of us, together.”
In Beirut’s southern suburbs the days after the funeral, people described the surreal state that they were living in since Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s killing. A group of young men standing in front of downed buildings near the cemetery told Splinter that burying Sayyed Hassan was like losing a father. “There are no words sufficient enough to describe the weight of this loss. Our hearts are heavy, but we will continue with our heads raised. They killed Sayyed Hassan, but a thousand Sayyed Hassan’s will bloom from the ashes, and each one will be a thorn in the occupier’s eye.”
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