Tens of thousands attend Beirut funeral of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah five months after his killing

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah's funeral draws thousands, with regional officials in attendance, amid Israeli airstrikes and heightened security measures.

Tens of thousands of people packed into a stadium in Beirut early Sunday (February 23, 2025) to attend the funeral of Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Nasrallah died after Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the militant group’s main operations room in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital. His death was a major blow for the Iran-backed group that the late leader transformed into a potent force in the West Asia.

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He was one of the group's founders and led it for more than 30 years, enjoying wide influence among Iran-backed groups in the region. The late Hezbollah chief was widely respected in the so-called Iran-led axis of resistance that included Iraqi, Yemeni and Palestinian factions.

Sahar al-Attar, a mourner who traveled from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for the funeral said she still “cannot believe what happened.”

“We would have come even under bullets” to attend Nasrallah’s burial, she said. “It is an indescribable feeling.”

Nasrallah shares the funeral with his cousin and successor, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb a few days later. The late Hezbollah leader will be laid to rest later Sunday in Beirut while Safieddine will be buried in his hometown in southern Lebanon. Both had temporarily been buried in secret locations. Hezbollah earlier this month announced plans for their official funerals.