A building in the southern suburbs of Beirut displays two posters: One depicting former Secretary-General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed on Sept. 27 by Israel and whose funeral will take place on Sunday; the other caricaturing Morgan Ortagus, the deputy of the U.S. president's special envoy for Middle East peace, Steve Witkoff. (Credit: Lucille Wassermann/L'Orient Today)
Despite the drop in temperatures, thousands of people began to converge on Beirut just before the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his short-lived successor Hashem Safieddine, which will take place on Sunday. Several hundred thousand participants are expected according to forecasts. Meanwhile, the situation remained calm in southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa, from where some Lebanese began to converge on the capital, while President Joseph Aoun once again called on the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw its army from the last territories it occupies in southern Lebanon.
Local newspaper al-Diyar reported on Saturday that more than 400,000 people from Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman had arrived in Beirut. As of the morning, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced several road closures and parking restrictions in much of central and southern Beirut, starting at midnight. Significant paramedical teams and rescuers will be deployed on Sunday morning. The ISF also communicated alternative routes to reach Beirut airport, where all flights will be suspended from noon to 4 p.m.
Preparations underway
The ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and will be followed by a funeral procession from the arena to the burial site in Burj Barajneh, where the iconic Hezbollah leader will be buried.
According to L'Orient Today's journalists on the ground, preparations were in full swing on Saturday in the presence of visitors from abroad, including several influencers, especially around the mausoleum planned to receive Nasrallah's body, in front of the mosque dedicated to Ayatollah Khomeini. Brazilian Tiago Avila and American Jason Hinkle were also among the invited guests. Houthis from Yemen also made the journey. Ali Sherri, a Yemeni political leader of the Zaydi party Hezb al-Haqq, told L'Orient Today that "only one plane from Yemen was able to land in Beirut two days ago, due to the restrictions imposed at Sanaa airport" by the Houthis.
"If these restrictions had not been in place," he stated, "thousands of Yemenis, without exaggeration, would have traveled to attend Hassan Nasrallah's funeral."
Iranian media reported that the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, will be in Lebanon for the funeral, along with several parliamentarians and state representatives. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is also part of the delegation from Iran. However, no Iranian airplane was allowed to land in Beirut over the past week, as Israel claimed they were used for smuggling money. They may therefore arrive in Beirut by other means.
Travelers from the south and the Bekaa
Since Saturday morning, residents of Baalbeck-Hermel have been traveling by car with party flags and photos of Nasrallah and Safieddine heading to the funeral site, reported L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa. Their journey forced them to cross the snow-covered mountains of Mount Lebanon due to the depression passing through the country this weekend. In southern Lebanon, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported that traffic was still blocked. Southern entrances to Saida were heavily congested up to the Awali Bridge, due to the influx of mourners heading to Beirut and its surroundings to spend the night before the funeral. Groups of people were walking toward the capital, waving resistance flags and portraits of "martyrs."
On the security front, the situation remained mostly calm in the Bekaa, as in southern Lebanon, until two incidents occurred at the border with Israel late in the day. The Israeli army, which still occupies several sites, opened fire on vehicles from the Southern Council opening roads in the area known as Abu al-Alaa's vineyards, in the villages of Dabbakeh, east of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent. Shortly before this incident, Israeli soldiers also fired on a car on the outskirts of Houla (Marjayoun), causing it to catch fire. The vehicle was reportedly empty and parked. The driver had parked his vehicle not far from an Israeli position before abandoning it.
On the diplomatic front, President Joseph Aoun met the visiting U.S. Congressional delegation at Baabda. During a meeting with U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (TX-13), he said that Lebanon's position is "firm and definitive" regarding the situation in the southern country, especially along the border with Israel. He emphasized the need for a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from positions they still occupy, as well as the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.