Tens of thousands of mourners gathered on the outskirts of Beirut on Sunday for a public funeral honoring Hezbollah’s slain leader, Hassan Nasrallah, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The crowd, carrying photos of Nasrallah and waving Hezbollah flags, filled the 55,000-seat Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium hours before the ceremony began.
Nasrallah, who guided the Iran-backed Shi’ite group for decades and played a major role in shaping it into a formidable military force, was one of the first senior figures targeted in an intensified Israeli campaign that severely weakened Hezbollah last year. The organization, already battered by the conflict with Israel, faced further setbacks when Bashar Assad, its key ally in Syria, was deposed—severing an important supply line.
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Among those attending the funeral were Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, representatives from Iraqi Shi’ite factions and militias, and a delegation from Yemen’s Houthis. The service also included a funeral for Hashem Safieddine, who briefly led Hezbollah after Nasrallah’s death before he, too, was killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was initially buried alongside his son Hadi—killed fighting for Hezbollah in 1997—before plans for this official funeral were finalized as part of a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that mandated the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area. Although Israel’s military has largely pulled out from the south, it retains positions on five hilltops and on Sunday conducted fresh airstrikes, citing renewed Hezbollah activity.