BEIRUT/JERUSALEM – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli Air Force jets flying over the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Feb 23 were sending a “clear message” to anyone threatening Israel.
“Israeli Air Force planes currently flying over Beirut during the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah are sending a clear message: Anyone who threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel – this will be their end,” Mr Katz said in a statement.
Nasrallah was killed by Israel nearly five months ago in a huge strike on south Beirut, at the start of an all-out war that ended with a ceasefire agreement in late November 2024.
Tens of thousands of mourners dressed in black vowed support for Hezbollah at the Beirut funeral of the slain leader on Feb 23.
Women wailed as a black truck carrying the coffins of Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine – Nasrallah’s chosen successor killed in another Israeli air strike before he could assume the post – slowly moved through the crowd, topped with two black turbans and draped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag.
The September killing of Nasrallah, who led the Lebanese movement for more than three decades, in a massive Israeli strike dealt a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group’s reputation as a fighting force.
But Hezbollah, which also played a major role in the country’s politics for decades, has long had a support base in the country’s majority Shi’ite Muslim community.
The funeral ceremony for Nasrallah and Safieddine began at 1pm at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut.
Excerpts of Nasrallah’s speeches were blasted in the stadium with tens of thousands of supporters raising their fists in the air and chanting “we are at your service Nasrallah” and “we are loyal to the promise Nasrallah”.
In a televised address to the ceremony, Nasrallah’s successor Naim Qassem said Hezbollah would keep following his “path” and rejected any control of “tyrant America” over Lebanon.
“The resistance is not over, the resistance is still present and ready” to face Israel, he said.
As the crowds gathered, Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s south, including a location about 20km from the border, with Israel’s military saying it had struck “rocket launchers”.
The Israeli army in a tweet ahead of the start of the funeral said “the world is a better place”.
A military statement on Feb 22 said Israeli forces “conducted a strike on border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border through which the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has attempted to smuggle weapons into Lebanon”.
“These smuggling attempts are a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the statement said, referring to the November truce that ended more than a year of hostilities, including two months of war.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported Israeli air strikes on smuggling routes at the Lebanon-Syria border including “illegal crossings”.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israel has carried out multiple strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah went into effect on Nov 27.
Nasrallah’s funeral came days after the deadline for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon’s south, with Israeli troops pulling out from all but five locations. Both sides have accused each other of violating the truce. AFP
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