Pro-Iranian demonstrators gathered in front of the United Nations building, with a Hezbollah flag in the foreground, June 23, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Around 500 people gathered on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in front of the United Nations building in downtown Beirut to show solidarity with Iran, reports our on-site journalist Mohammad Yassin. The demonstrators included numerous supporters of Hezbollah, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), Nasserist movements and Palestinian factions. Flags from all these groups were hoisted by the protesters, alongside Lebanese, Iranian and Palestinian flags, adorned on the platform where speakers addressed the crowd.
Speeches focused on Iran's resistance against Israel, with anti-Israeli sentiments fueled by the ongoing wars in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, and in Lebanon (2023-2024). These groups, led by Hezbollah — an unwavering ally of Iran — are calling for another rally on Wednesday afternoon in front of the Iranian embassy in Beirut, where a larger turnout is expected.
A 12-day war broke out on June 13 following an Israeli attack on Iranian territory aimed, according to Israel, at dismantling Iran’s nuclear program. Reciprocal bombings have since led to significant destruction on both sides. On June 21, an unprecedented American bombing of Iranian nuclear sites marked a turning point in the conflict. To observers' surprise, and despite an Iranian retaliation on June 22 against a U.S. military base in Qatar, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, effective June 23. Iranian supporters generally believe that the Islamic Republic made Israel retreat despite the severe air attacks on its soil, while Israelis claim to have curtailed Iranian nuclear ambitions.
