In the Sports City, prayers and excerpts from speeches by Hassan Nasrallah are broadcast ahead of the ceremony. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
“Ya’...” Ahmad nearly let out a curse before hastily asking God for forgiveness. The 30-year-old, a towering figure was teased by his friends for being easily startled by the sudden roar of Israeli jets flying low over the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium. Like Ahmad, many Hezbollah supporters who had gathered on Sunday for assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral had anticipated some form of Israeli disruption to mar the ceremony’s solemnity — but not necessarily like this.“Hezbollah is finished...” Ahmad sighed, as Naim Qassem, the party’s current secretary, began a speech that seemed to fall flat. Inside the stadium, stands that had been packed just moments earlier were already emptying. The crowd appeared more eager to make its way to Hafez al-Assad Avenue, ready to follow the mortal remains of a man they revered almost as a...
“Ya’...” Ahmad nearly let out a curse before hastily asking God for forgiveness. The 30-year-old, a towering figure was teased by his friends for being easily startled by the sudden roar of Israeli jets flying low over the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium. Like Ahmad, many Hezbollah supporters who had gathered on Sunday for assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral had anticipated some form of Israeli disruption to mar the ceremony’s solemnity — but not necessarily like this.“Hezbollah is finished...” Ahmad sighed, as Naim Qassem, the party’s current secretary, began a speech that seemed to fall flat. Inside the stadium, stands that had been packed just moments earlier were already emptying. The crowd appeared more eager to make its way to Hafez al-Assad Avenue, ready to follow the mortal remains of a man they...