A graffiti depicting former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on Sept. 23, 2025, on the rubble of the historic Nabatieh souk in South Lebanon, destroyed by Israeli bombings the previous year. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient-Le Jour)
Portraits of Hassan Nasrallah, in all colors, hang on the wall and greet customers. In this Islamic shop in the Nabatieh souk, overlooking rubble, the former Hezbollah leader has become a fixed gaze upon trinkets: his image appears on metal objects and keychains. In a store, shattered during the 66-day war and rebuilt within a month, Ihab*, lists his family’s dead — all fighters killed in the last war: his uncle, cousins, his aunt’s husband.“And your friends too!” adds Samar*, the shop assistant.“The worst was losing the sayyed [former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah]. He was everything to us,” says the young man, who refuses to reveal his real name or his “rank” within the pro-Iranian organization. “No one can replace him.” It is the same phrase repeated in the streets of Nabatieh, Kfar Roummane and Beirut’s southern suburbs. ...
Portraits of Hassan Nasrallah, in all colors, hang on the wall and greet customers. In this Islamic shop in the Nabatieh souk, overlooking rubble, the former Hezbollah leader has become a fixed gaze upon trinkets: his image appears on metal objects and keychains. In a store, shattered during the 66-day war and rebuilt within a month, Ihab*, lists his family’s dead — all fighters killed in the last war: his uncle, cousins, his aunt’s husband.“And your friends too!” adds Samar*, the shop assistant.“The worst was losing the sayyed [former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah]. He was everything to us,” says the young man, who refuses to reveal his real name or his “rank” within the pro-Iranian organization. “No one can replace him.” It is the same phrase repeated in the streets of Nabatieh, Kfar Roummane and Beirut’s...
