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The funeral of slain Hezbollah chiefs Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine will be held on Sunday in Beirut with a central ceremony scheduled for 1 pm at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. Nasrallah will then be buried at a dedicated site nearby, according to reports along with a bottle containing "Palestinian and al Aqsa land."
Crowds gathered overnight in the city's Dahieh quarter a Hezbollah stronghold where both men were assassinated in targeted Israeli attacks. They called out "death to Israel."
According to reports in Lebanon's Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar television the Beirut International Airport will suspend all flights between 12 pm and 4 pm in expectation of overcrowding.
As preparations in Beirut were underway, Lebanese media reported a series of Israeli airstrikes between the villages of Shihur and Ansar in southern Lebanon. According to an additional report, one of the strikes targeted the village of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr—where Hashem Safi al-Din, the successor to the assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who himself was killed by Israel a week after taking the post, is set to be buried.
An IDF statement released later on Sunday said it attacked a military site containing rocket launchers and weapons in Lebanese territory, in which Hezbollah activity was identified. Additionally, several rocket launchers that posed an imminent threat to Israeli civilians were struck in southern Lebanon.
"These activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization are in violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and pose a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians," the statement read. "The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel."
A Hezbollah source told the Qatari Al Araby al Jadeed newspaper that Iranians were having a hard time reaching Beirut for the funeral after Lebanese officials suspended certain flights from Iran recently. But there were other routs that could be used, the source said, including through Iraq.
Before leaving for Beirut at the head of his country's delegation to the funeral, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said his visit may be a turning point in the relations between Tehran and the new Lebanese government. "We will meet senior Lebanese officials," he said. The meetings could be the turning point to improve our bilateral relations. Nasrallah's funeral is a reflection of the greatness of the Lebanese people."
The Iranian-backed terror group called for masses to attend the funeral. In a press conference on Saturday, deputy chief of Hezbollah's operational council Ali Damush assure everyone that the Lebanese army and security services were responsible for security. "There are thousands of groups involved in the organization and discipline along side Hezbollah and the Amal organization."
He called on Lebanese to participate in the funeral. “Come from every home, village and city so that we tell the enemy that this resistance will stay and is ready in the field,” Daamoush said, referring to Israel.
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Damush said Lebanon will not be Israeli. "There will not be a foothold for the Zionists in Lebanon, and it will not be divided. Lebanon will remain a united nation with peace and dignity." He said the funeral would be the day to renew loyalty. "We tell our enemies and our friends that the resistance will remain on the ground. The enemy has not succeeded in destroying it and no one from the outside or within will succeed in crushing it.
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Preparations ahead of the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut
According to the Hezbollah organizers, visiting delegations from 60 to 70 countries will participate. There will be 80,000 to 85,000 people inside the sports stadium and an additional 100,000 outside.
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Turkish tourists visit the site of the IDF strike that assassinated Hassan Nasrallah in the Dahieh quarter of Beirut
A huge banner was hung on the road leading to the Beirut Airport showing Nasrallah, Saffiedine and the slain commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds force who was assassinated in an American strike in 2020. The sign reads "We are committed to the alliance."