Thousands gathered in Beirut Sunday to mourn the death of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s longtime leader who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September. Under a ceasefire agreement, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon last week, but it continues to illegally occupy five locations in the country. Correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous traveled to Lebanon last week to report from the ground in southern Lebanon and to cover Nasrallah’s funeral, one of the biggest in the region in decades. The large turnout of thousands of Lebanese mourners was a “show of presence and of support for Hezbollah, which suffered heavy losses in Israel’s war on Lebanon,” Abdel Kouddous says.
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
Lebanon’s new government won a confidence vote in Parliament Wednesday with the backing of 95 lawmakers in the 128-seat chamber. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was appointed last month to form a government in the wake of Israel’s war on Lebanon that killed over 4,000 people and displaced over 1.2 million. Hezbollah’s bloc in Parliament backed the new government Wednesday even though the statement that was adopted notably said only Lebanon’s armed forces should defend the country. It also did not include the phrase, quote, “armed resistance,” which is usually seen as legitimizing Hezbollah’s possession of weapons outside state control.
On a visit to Lebanon earlier this month, U.S. deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said the inclusion of Hezbollah in the Lebanese government was a, quote, “red line.” Hezbollah has long been one of the strongest forces in the region fighting Israel. Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in September, and the group also lost many of its top commanders and rank and file.
Under a ceasefire agreement, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon last week, but it continues to illegally occupy five locations inside Lebanon.
Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous traveled to Lebanon last week to report from the ground in the south and to cover Nasrallah’s funeral, one of the biggest in the region in decades. He filed this report for Drop Site News and Democracy Now!
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Southern Lebanon, scenes of utter devastation. This is the village of Kafr Kila — or what is left of it — after the Israeli military finally withdrew its forces on February 18th.
Israel’s war on Lebanon lasted for well over a year. Hezbollah began firing rockets and artillery at Israeli forces one day after Israel began its genocidal assault on Gaza. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called it a solidarity front with the Palestinians. Israel retaliated by bombing Lebanon, mostly in the south, the heartland of Hezbollah’s power base, before escalating dramatically in September, carpet bombing large swaths of the country and launching a ground invasion.
But much of the destruction in these villages in the south came during a so-called ceasefire that went into effect on November 27th. During that time, occupying Israeli troops used bulldozers, dynamite and artillery to flatten entire areas.
We’re standing here on the rubble of one of the homes. There’s hardly any structures that have been left standing. The Israeli military left here just three days ago, occupying the village for several months. Residents who are trying to get back to their homes were protesting on the outskirts, but there’s hardly anyone here, because there’s nothing to come back to. You can see we’re just on the border with Palestine. There’s the wall. Israeli settlements are there in the distance. But the village has been demolished. There’s concrete, twisted rebar, the remnants of life, but no one is here.
Along with the destruction, Israeli troops left behind clear signs of their presence. Graffiti scrawled in Hebrew on this home reads “so-and-so was here” with the name blacked out.
A 20-minute drive northeast from Kafr Kila lies the town of Khiam. While some buildings are still standing, residents say as much as 70% of Khiam has been destroyed. Hezbollah mounted a fierce resistance here, preventing the Israeli military from invading and occupying it. When the ceasefire agreement went into effect in late November and the fighters withdrew, Israeli tanks and troops poured in.
ALI KHREIS: [translated] They only came into Khiam during the 60-day ceasefire. That’s when they came into Khiam and destroyed 50% of Khiam during that time, using detonation. It was only during the ceasefire.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Ali Khreis is a local resident who runs a small cafe in Khiam. His son Mahdi, a 33-year-old father of two, was a fighter who was killed on October 29th, 2024.
ALI KHREIS: [translated] My son is one of the resistance fighters. He is one of the ones who remained here and fought here and was martyred here. And it was through their blood that we returned to our town. They decided that we wouldn’t return to our lands, but we did return, through the blood of our martyrs who sacrificed for us.
Now the town is empty, but we are trying as much as we can. We will return to our lands, for sure. We have more than 30, 40, 50 families who have already returned, and they are staying here, but on the outskirts of the town, because in the middle of the town there are hardly any houses left standing.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Israel’s onslaught on Khiam even extended to the local cemetery, which the Israeli military shelled. Rubble litters the tombstones, some of which have been split apart and broken open. Among the graves damaged is that of Issam Abdallah, the 37-year-old journalist working for Reuters who was killed by Israeli tank fire in a targeted attack on October 13th, 2023. The white headstone bearing an image of his face was broken nearly in half.
Since November, Israel has violated the ceasefire in Lebanon hundreds of times. While we were in the southern village of Houla, the Israeli military attacked a civilian car on the outskirts of town, setting it on fire, with black smoke visible on an adjacent hilltop. We also met Houla native Ibrahim Yassin as he was placing a picture of his martyred son on the rubble.
IBRAHIM YASSIN: [translated] This point where I’m standing exactly is where my son was martyred. My son, the martyr, is Muhammad Ibrahim Yassin. And it was here that he was killed. And if it wasn’t for this pure blood, this country would not have been liberated. The enemy is still in five locations. Sooner or later, they will withdrawal, whether they want to or not, as long as there are men who will fight.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Like many thousands of others from the south, Ibrahim was traveling to Beirut to attend the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
IBRAHIM YASSIN: [translated] This historical figure was bringing the nation together, the history of the nation. He brings all the people together. He didn’t just defend the south. He defended Palestine. He defended Gaza, Iraq, Yemen. He defended all of the oppressed people.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: The funeral of Hassan Nasrallah on February 23rd was a major regional event. As Hezbollah’s leader for over 30 years, Nasrallah helped transform the group from a militia into one of the most powerful political movements in the Arab world and a formidable fighting force in the region. He was killed in September when Israel dropped more than 80 tons of munitions on a residential compound in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, also killing an unknown number of civilians.
A massive turnout today in Beirut for the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets. This is a show of presence and of support for Hezbollah, which suffered heavy losses in Israel’s war on Lebanon, including the loss of Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader for more than 30 years, as well as many top commanders and its rank and file. Nasrallah was buried in a secret grave after he was killed nearly five months ago. When his body was brought today, there was open displays of emotion, men and women weeping for the loss of this leader. At some point, Israeli jets flew low overhead, prompting the crowd to chant against Israel, to chant against the United States. This is the biggest funeral in Lebanon in decades, and it’s a show of Hezbollah’s political and military presence in the future of Lebanon.
On Monday, a funeral ceremony was held for Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s cousin and successor, who was killed a few days after Nasrallah. While a far smaller turnout than the ceremony honoring Nasrallah, it was nevertheless a significant event. The entire town came to pay tribute, with a marching band and young men in uniform holding Hezbollah flags amidst thousands of mourners who took to the streets. Among those who came to attend was senior Hezbollah official and member of Parliament Ibrahim al-Moussawi. For security reasons, he left quickly after paying his respects. But we caught up with him that evening in Beirut.
Yesterday, there was a massive funeral for Sayed Hassan Nasrallah. We saw a very big turnout. In addition to mourning Nasrallah, was this also a show of strength by Hezbollah?
IBRAHIM AL-MOUSSAWI: First of all, you’re talking about a whole society, community, that is completely devoted and dedicated to the idea, to the concept of the resistance, because we live in a part of the world where the world conspiracy, if you want, the world hegemony, the occupation, the expansionist tendency of the Israeli enemy is there always, all of the time. Part of our land has been occupied, and part of our land has already been occupied also after this war. So you’re talking more or less about people who are under occupation, who are under oppression, who are under continuous target, aggression from the Israeli side, supported by the Americans.
And yesterday, you know, they said, “We have done with Hezbollah. Hezbollah has been destroyed.” To their shock and to their surprise, you’re talking about one of the unprecedented rallies in the history of Lebanon and maybe in the region. If you take it proportionally, you will see that when you have more than 1 million people marching into the streets to mourn their leader, to send a message of strength, a message of solidarity, a message of assistance, a message of support, a message of belief, a message of loyalty, a message of faithfulness to the resistance, then this tell you who has been the loser, actually.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: The Trump administration has said that Hezbollah being a part of the Lebanese government is a red line. What’s your response to that?
IBRAHIM AL-MOUSSAWI: Look, when we talk about democracy, we talk about the free choices of the people. We are a constituency, and we are part and bulk of this community. When you believe in democracy, is it like decontextualized democracy, democracy here, not democracy there? I mean, who is Trump to dictate his policies upon us? Who has given him the right to say what’s right and what’s wrong? Who has given him the right to say what are the red lines and what are the green lines? It’s a red line for Trump and for all of the dictators and the hegemons of the world to dictate their policies upon us and upon any free, independent society. So, it’s a red line for him to do it, and he’s trespassing so many different red lines. This is something that has to do with his opinion. He can keep it for himself. While here we are an independent, sovereign country, we are an independent, sovereign society, and we have the right to exercise our rights in democracy and in being represented in the government and in the Parliament and all the political life in the country.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Israel continues to occupy five positions inside Lebanon. If that occupation continues, will Hezbollah respond?
IBRAHIM AL-MOUSSAWI: Yesterday, our secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said that we’re giving the opportunity for the government, for the international community, and we will observe what’s really going on to happen. And after that, we will take the position and the decision that we feel necessary to protect our country.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: With the loss of Nasrallah and much of its top leadership, Hezbollah has entered a new phase, one that will affect the future of Lebanon for years to come. For Democracy Now! and Drop Site News, I’m Sharif Abdel Kouddous, with Lama Al-Arian.
AMY GOODMAN: This special report was a Democracy Now! collaboration with Drop Site News. You can read all Sharif’s reporting, as well as Drop Site’s reports from inside Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere, at DropSiteNews.com, as well as Sharif’s reporting on Democracy Now! Special thanks to Malek Hosny, Tariq Qiblawi and Ibrahim Ali for that report. Sharif Abdel Kouddous won a George Polk Award for his Al Jazeera documentary on The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. Sharif’s documentary for Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines, The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza, has been nominated for a Royal Television Society Award in Britain. The award ceremony is March 5th in London.
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