Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. (Photo: NNA)
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced Thursday evening that he had asked the ministers of interior, justice and defense to initiate legal proceedings, including arrests, of those responsible for the projection of images of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his successor Hashem Safieddine onto Beirut’s Raouche Rocks.
The projections took place during one in a series of events to commemorate the assassination of the two leaders. The initiative, he said, was carried out "in violation of the conditions" set out by the governor of Beirut for the issuance of event permits.
Earlier in the evening, thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered on Beirut's waterfront to commemorate Israel's assassination of Nasrallah and Safieddine a year ago, and whose portraits were projected onto the Raouche Rocks. This move took place despite a prohibition by Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud, who authorized the gathering but banned any planned illuminations onto the iconic site.
"What happened today in the Raouche area is a blatant violation of the conditions of the permit granted by the Beirut governor to the organizers. This permit clearly stated that it was strictly forbidden to illuminate the Raouche Rocks, whether from land, sea or air, and to project any kind of light images onto it," the prime minister said on his X account.
"It goes without saying that this repudiates the explicit commitments made by the organizers and their supporters, and constitutes yet another misstep that undermines their credibility in dealing with the state and its institutions," he added. "This condemnable behavior will not deter us from our decision to rebuild a state governed by the rule of law and strong institutions; on the contrary, it will strengthen our resolve to fulfill this national duty," he concluded.
Hezbollah's decision to honor its former leaders in this way has sparked controversy amongst some in a deeply divided country.
