BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah buried its founder Hassan Nasrallah in a huge state-like funeral on Sunday, marking the end of an era for the militant Shiite group. Hezbollah held the event amid vows that followers would continue his legacy of resistance against Israel and the United States.
Nasrallah, 64, was killed last September when Israel bombed a high rise building with an underground command center in Beirut's southern suburbs. Even at his funeral, Israel made its presence known — low-flying Israeli fighter jets broke the sound barrier over Beirut — prompting chants of "death to Israel."
In the midst of waves of Israeli airstrikes late last year, the Iran-backed group chose to temporarily bury Nasrallah and his successor Hashem Safeidine — who was killed by Israel a few days later — until it could hold a funeral akin to that of a head of state.
The funeral was held in a 50,000-seat sports stadium in Beirut, which was packed to capacity. Outside, the organization set up giant television screens for those it could not accommodate inside. Hezbollah said officials from dozens of countries attended the funeral, including senior officials from Iran and Iraq. Lebanon announced it would close its airspace for four hours during the funeral proceedings for security reasons.
The two coffins, draped in yellow and green Hezbollah flags, were loaded into a glass enclosure on the back of a flatbed truck for the funeral procession through the stadium. Hezbollah fighters standing next to the coffins threw flowers to the crowd.
Some in the crowd sobbed as organizers played excerpts from Nasrallah's speeches.
In November, Lebanon signed a US-brokered ceasefire, ending what had flared into all-out fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah had begun attacks on Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza in October 2023. Hezbollah negotiated its part of the agreement through Lebanese government proxies, as it does not have the status of a state.
At the funeral, Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassim told the crowd that his organization agreed to the ceasefire because to reject it would have been to needlessly sacrifice more lives.
"The resistance is here to stay — we will act whenever we deem it appropriate," he said.
The United States classified Hezbollah as a terror organization after the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut.
To Nasrallah's millions of followers — most but not all of them Shiite Muslim — he was the embodiment of resistance against injustice, having led Hezbollah for over 30 years.
His death at the hands of Israel was considered by followers an inevitable martyrdom. In the Shiite Muslim faith, a martyr is the highest expression of honor — harkening back to the beginnings of Shiite Islam with the 7th century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in Karbala in what is now Iraq.
"His wish was to be a martyr," said Majida Naji, who was walking to the stadium. "Of course such as person does not die without being a martyr — it would be impossible for him to die a normal death."
"Without Sayyid Hassan there would be no Lebanon, honestly," said Naji, referring to the wide-spread belief among Lebanese that Lebanon would now be occupied by Israel if Hezbollah had not rebuffed Israeli forces. Sayyid is an honorific, referring to a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad.
She carried a portrait of Nasrallah and wore a pin with a photo of her brother-in-law who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb.
The Lebanese mourners included families — some carrying young children on their shoulders, laborers who had taken the day off work, and others from all segments of society.
"Sayyid Hassan planted his soul in us," said Sausan Kamal al-Din, a mother of two, wearing fashionable black sunglasses and heavy gold bracelets. "He planted everything in us — we will continue in his path," she said.
Jawad Rizkallah contributed reporting from Beirut
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