Around the enormous crater left by the Israeli bombing which killed him on September 27, thousands of people paid tribute this Saturday to the leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallahafter the ceasefire allowed the population to return to this suburb of Beirut.
Nasrallah, secretary general of the formation for three decades, was assassinated with bunker-busting bombs that penetrated into the bowels of the underground headquarters where he was located, supposedly on the twelfth floor, where he only remains today. than a titanic hole.
In the middle of the crater, Hezbollah has erected a metal structure that spits a halo of light into the sky, as if to imitate the ascension of its former leader, while a faint reddish lighting contrasts with the darkness that still reigns in the suburb of Dahye after four days of cessation of hostilities.
The suburb where the Shiite cleric died was hit hard bombed during the two months of the offensive Israeli airstrike that only stopped this week, leaving its neighborhoods without power and strewn with devastation, and preventing the movement until now from holding public farewells.
Candles and photographs
At the opening of the memorial, at the end of the afternoon, thousands of people gathered carrying candles, photographs of the secretary general and Hezbollah flags. From all sides and even standing on the clods of earth attracted by the shock, sporadic cries of “At your service, Nasrallah” broke out.
In the background, the loudspeakers broadcast one of the old speeches of the leader, who, since the previous war with Israel in 2006, had been living in secret locations and speaking to his supporters through recordings broadcast by TV channels. television concerned.
Last appearing in public about ten years ago, when it was already very unusual, his political and armed movement also had the habit of organizing public events with giant screens so that neighbors could hear their speeches.
Suileima Nasr el Din “sometimes” came to see them, on important occasions such as the Shiite festival of Ashura, which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
“We didn’t want it to happen like this.”comments to Efe in perfect Spanish, the young Venezuelan-Lebanese, among the crowd of people concentrated in the darkness of the quay, some with tears streaming down their cheeks.
“It’s very strong, because after 30 years it happens suddenly, no one expected it,” adds Dahye’s neighbor.
Born in Venezuela and living in Lebanon for eight years, she says that during the Israeli offensive launched on September 23 against Lebanon He had to leave these devastated suburbs with his familylike almost the entire rest of the population.
Charismatic
Nasrallah, born in 1960, took the reins of the Shiite movement in 1992 after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack in southern Lebanon.
Everyone knew he was a target for its archenemy, Israel, and therefore spent his days in secret locations, but no one could imagine that he had just been hit when, on September 27, the Bunker bombs thundered loudly throughout Beirut.
“Until now, we hoped he was alive,” he admits. Efe another participant in this Saturday’s event, who identifies herself only as Zeinab. “It’s a very hard night, I’m very sad. It was the hardest night, despite all the wars and everything that happened, the hardest day was that,” said the female.
Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death a day after the Dahye attack, part of a campaign of attacks that also killed almost all of the group’s leaders, and about a month ago it named his number two as successor.
However, for many, the pastor was a charismatic person who was difficult to replace. “I hope that the charisma he has Said be rehearsed with another person,” he tells Efe citizen Imad Khoury, in front of a memorial which will remain open for a week.
“The spirit of Nasrallah remains with uswhen we hear his voice we have the feeling that he is always with us. It is not the soul that has abandoned us, only the body,” he concludes.
