A poster displaying Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in front of a building damaged by an Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sept. 20, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
As the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah takes place this Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, we revisit this article, originally published on Oct. 8, 2024.
"His face was serene, with no visible injuries... I saw the martyr Sayyed just as I had seen him in life." Ten days after the assassination of Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, in a massive, violent strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Hussein Karim, the head of a firefighting brigade affiliated with the party, who says he recovered Nasrallah's body, spoke on camera for al-Manar TV.
"Tell me what you saw. Don’t hold back on the details," urged the journalist from the party's channel, dressed entirely in black, as she addressed the firefighter. Wearing his uniform, he recounted: "There were two of us. We went down into the area [where Nasrallah had been]. We saw pure, blessed bodies, lying comfortably, calm ... untouched. I saw the martyr Sayyed as I had seen him in life." Although he said he tried to "control" his emotions that day, he was unable to contain his feelings before the camera.
The same 'greatness'
"Now, my emotions take over, but there [where he extracted Nasrallah's body], I froze my emotions ... I had a clear goal: that blessed body should be honored and extracted with respect. We have to defeat the enemy's aim to disperse this body," he asserted. He added, that Nasrallah "retained the same grandeur he used to intimidate people with when he was alive," even after his death.
"When I saw his white hair, I prayed it wasn’t him ... When I turned around and saw his face, I said al-hamdulillah [thanked God]," he said.
Moments later, Karim regained his composure and took on his role as a rescuer. "I performed an ECG, hoping to save him," but to no avail, he recounted.
Then, his voice trembling, he added: "I couldn't speak; I didn't know what to say to him. I wiped his face, his beard, touched his hands and the finger with which he used to point and threaten with, to draw strength ... his face was serene, without any injuries."
"I saw the Sayyed in the state of wudu [ablution]. His ring wasn't on his finger," he stated, pointing out that the Israeli strike happened before prayer time.
According to Karim, Ali Karakeh, the leader of Hezbollah’s southern front, was next to Hassan Nasrallah, along with other victims.
"Neither Alaa [the other paramedic who was at the site] nor I could remove our masks, due to the toxic, deadly gasses [in the area]. Later, Alaa encountered an issue with his oxygen mask, which led to his pulmonary failure," and eventual death, he lamented.
"It surprises me that some people refuse to believe the Sayyed is dead. Even Prophet Mohammad died," the rescuer concluded.