Hundreds of thousands attended the funeral of former Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on Feb/ 23, with crowd estimates ranging from 450,000 to over 1.4 million. The ceremony also honored Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s successor, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike days after Nasrallah’s Sept. 27, 2024 assassination, achieved by an Israeli Air Force strike that dropped more than 80 bombs to kill him.
Both bodies were recovered and buried in secret until the funeral could be arranged.
Security was tight, with Beirut airport and major roads in the capital closed. Iranian officials, Lebanese leaders, and 800 representatives from 65 countries were present, a senior Hezbollah official, said, according to AP. The dignitaries included Iran’s Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and representatives of the president and prime minister also attended.
Hezbollah’s new Secretary General Naim Qassem, elected on Oct. 29, 2024, addressed mourners via video, vowing to continue Nasrallah’s legacy and resist Israeli and U.S. influence.
