Two men clean the seats at the Camille Chamoun Sports City before the kick-off of the 12th Asian Football Cup, August 6, 2000, in Beirut. (Credit: AFP archives)
BEIRUT — People shouted pro-Hezbollah chants on Friday when Prime Minister Nawaf Salam entered Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium to watch the first football match of the Lebanese Premier League Championship.
Several videos circulating online show attendees shouting: "Nawaf, listen carefully, oh God, in the name of God and Sayyed Hassan," and "Labbayka ya Nasrallah [At your service, Nasrallah]." Some also chanted: ""Zionist, Zionist, Nawaf Salam is a Zionist."
On Wednesday, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Nora Bairakdarian, announced “the return to life of the Camille Chamoun Sports Stadium,” with the inaugural game between Ansar and Nejmeh, after six years of closure and dilapidation, worsened by the Beirut Port explosion in 2020.
Bairakdarian, who has shown particular attention to the rehabilitation of the site since assuming office, said that the stadium would be ready to welcome a first football match on Friday afternoon, under the patronage of President Joseph Aoun and in the presence of Salam, adding that the latter “will symbolically give the kickoff which will mark the revival of this complex.”
Immediately distancing itself from the events in the stadium, Hezbollah released a statement denouncing the chants, saying it ran counter to national unity.
“The slogans shouted from the stands of Sports City and the accusations against Prime Minister Nawaf Salam are condemnable and unacceptable, and run counter to national interests and sporting ethics,” the Hezbollah statement reads.
The behavior "did not serve the process of consolidating national unity and internal stability, which the country needs in the process of state-building and reform,” the statement continues. “We call on all Lebanese to show the highest degree of national responsibility and not to be drawn into provocative and offensive slogans that will only increase tensions and divisions, especially at this stage when the Israeli aggression against Lebanon continues.”
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's former secretary-general, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27, 2024, four days into Israel's intense and widespread bombing campaign in the country. Nasrallah's funeral, one of the largest in the region in recent years with nearly one million attendees, was held at Sports City in February.
Aoun and Salam, since taking office in December and January respectfully, have repeatedly said that only the state should hold the monopoly on arms, in reference to Hezbollah's arsenal, which it retained post-Civil War, and which Israel claims to be targeting as it violates the cease-fire agreement in place since Nov. 27.
The prime minister wrote a message on X following the game, in which he does not refer directly to the chants against him, but does speak of "unity" and "brotherhood among all."
“With great pleasure, I participated in the revitalization of the Camille Chamoun Sports City in Beirut, where sports activities return to embody the spirit of unity and brotherhood among all," the statement reads. "Sport is not only a competition, it is a bridge that brings people together regardless of their affiliations, which removes barriers and strengthens the bonds of love and peace.”
Inaugurated in 1957, the stadium is an emblematic state-owned stadium that once hosted the most important sports and cultural events in the region.
During the war between Israel and Hezbollah over the past two years, it was transformed into a shelter for the displaced and housed nearly 1,000 people.
