The funeral of Abbas Raad, son of the head of the Hezbollah parliamentary group, Mohammad Raad, in Jbaa, South Lebanon, on November 23, 2023. Illustrative photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP.
From the outset, the Lebanese war has been accompanied by speeches justifying self-sacrifice, even to the point of death, in defense of causes deemed sacred. What could be more familiar throughout history than these extreme acts committed in the name of absolute values that would justify not only living for them but dying for them as well? In a world filled with conflict, death becomes the ultimate expression of power: a means to impose one’s will on an enemy or to signal an unyielding determination.Throughout the tragic course of the war in Lebanon, death in battle came to symbolize resistance against a fate that, depending on the era, an enemy sought to impose on the country or one of its communities. Attacked at their core — whether facing the risk of loss of land, identity, culture or simply their power and influence — these...
From the outset, the Lebanese war has been accompanied by speeches justifying self-sacrifice, even to the point of death, in defense of causes deemed sacred. What could be more familiar throughout history than these extreme acts committed in the name of absolute values that would justify not only living for them but dying for them as well? In a world filled with conflict, death becomes the ultimate expression of power: a means to impose one’s will on an enemy or to signal an unyielding determination.Throughout the tragic course of the war in Lebanon, death in battle came to symbolize resistance against a fate that, depending on the era, an enemy sought to impose on the country or one of its communities. Attacked at their core — whether facing the risk of loss of land, identity, culture or simply their power and influence — these...
