“We are entering the assessment phase”

“We will not abandon Palestine.” The southern outskirts of Beirut are compensating for their worst week since the start of the Gaza offensive with a clear idea: Hezbollah will continue to fight Israel from the northern side of the border, as it has done since the start of the war in Gaza. The organization, which capitalizes on the “Islamic resistance,” has lost some of its top military leaders in recent days. In Dahie, a neighborhood of the Lebanese capital, an Israeli bombing on Friday killed the movement’s military leader, Ibrahim Aqil, as well as the head of the party’s formation, Ahmed Wehbe, and dozens of others.

On Sunday, as the city’s Christian streets fell silent and anxiously followed the progress of the escalation, the entire Dahi gathered at the funeral of the dead. Two yellow coffins with green fringes for the Hezbollah flag dominated the neighborhood, followed by a crowd of sheikhs and neighbors gathered from balconies to observe the scene. On the shoulders of their parents, a girl and a boy wave three flags that, for Hezbollah supporters, are one: the Palestinian, the Lebanese and the party.

“They are martyrs for all the people. They are martyrs of Jerusalem and Palestine,” preaches a voice in the rage of mourning that many do not see where it comes from. In front of the coffins, four men in black surround a small body speaking from a pulpit. It is Naím Qásem, second in command of Hezbollah after Hassan Nasrallah. In the shadow of his white turban, the sheikh of sheikhs harangues an entire people: “That our men become martyrs is an honor for us.” […] We have entered a new phase [de la guerra]and its title is the settling of accounts. The crowd responds: “Labbeika, now Hussein!“—At your service, Hussein!”, “Death to America!”, “Death to Israel!”

Qasem begins to recite verses from the Koran. Three assistants, Hasan and two Alis, beat themselves on the chest as men, women and children do. The blows, which soon begin to hurt, symbolize Hussein’s affliction during the martyrdom of Ashura. But neither Hasan nor any of the Alis intend to go further in their sacrifice: “I am not going to fight on the front lines. No matter how ugly things get,” says one of them. The other clarifies: “It is not because of fear, it is because we do not believe we are needed. Our soldiers are ready to face whatever comes.” The third friend, the other Ali, does not rule out joining the Shiite militias in the south.

For now, none of the three are considering leaving Dahie. Despite the explosions of thousands of beepers and walkie-talkies last week, which injured nearly 4,000 people across the country, the young residents do not see their future beyond their Beirut neighborhood. Even if the south of the Lebanese capital, confirmed in recent days as an Israeli military target, becomes the scene of a new war. On Sunday afternoon, as Qasem celebrated that his rockets had reached the Israeli city, Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah: “If you have not understood the message [de esta semana]”I promise you will understand.”

The other message Israel has tried to convey after the attack it received early Sunday morning is that Hezbollah rockets “targeted civilians.” But neither the number of wounded nor the number of dead from the barrage has been reported. Nasrallah’s party says its operations are targeting only military installations. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, another group of armed factions in the region backed by Iran, joined Hezbollah’s offensive on Sunday. An Israel Defense Forces commander warned after the attacks from the east: “The operations against Hezbollah are a message to anyone in the Middle East who intends to harm our citizens.”

For now, the Israeli military’s intervention outside Palestine leaves only funerals in Lebanon – and in Syria, where several devices exploded earlier this week. At the party’s most important funeral since the death of Fuad Shukur last July, Qasem made it clear that neither his militias were weakened nor had Hezbollah’s mission to impose a ceasefire in Gaza been interrupted. “You gave us unity and strength,” he bids farewell to Aqil and Wehbe at his funeral, and leaves room for the party’s scouts to entertain themselves with anashid —Muslim vocal music—the procession of coffins to the military cemetery. Moving away in the middle of the pilgrimage, a black flag with the portrait of Nasrallah recalls in red letters: “The victory and conquest of God are near.”