Pro-Iranian groups from across the Middle East gathered in Beirut on Sunday for the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The gathering looked like something out of the scene in the Godfather where the heads of the “five families” gathered.
Not only did pro-Iranian militia leaders from Iraq show up, so did Iranian officials, and there were remotely recorded speeches by Hezbollah’s current leader and Iran’s supreme leader.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message for the funeral: “The great mujahid and leading commander of the Resistance in the region, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (may God elevate his status), is now at a position that is the height of honor. His pure body will be laid to rest in the land of jihad for the sake of God, but his spirit and his path will shine more gloriously each day, God willing, illuminating the way for those who follow him.”
An Iranian government delegation also came to the funeral and met with the Lebanese president.
“The delegation headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi sat down with [Lebanese President Joseph] Aoun on Sunday to exchange views on regional developments,” Iranian state media reported.
“Ebrahim Azizi, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament; Abolfazl Amouei, the Parliament speaker’s special assistant for international affairs; and lawmaker Seyed Mahmoud Nabavian were among those who met with the Lebanese president.”
Many of these Iranian officials and pro-Iranian groups marched at the funeral.
“Nasrallah was a strategic thinker who transformed Hezbollah from a mere military group into a political and ideological entity,” Araqchi said in a statement.
Hezbollah members and supporters also gathered in Dahieh, a Shi’ite suburb of Beirut, where Nasrallah was killed. The site of his death, a giant crater, has become a kind of pilgrimage site.
Members of the powerful Iraqi group of pro-Iranian militias, called Hashd al-Shaabi, also arrived in Beirut. They included Falih al-Fayyadh, head of the Popular Mobilization Forces; and his chief of staff, Abu Fadak, who is also the head of Kataib Hezbollah. Kataib Hezbollah is a key pro-Iranian militia in Iraq with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Also in attendance were members of other Iraqi militias, including Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba.
Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq Secretary-General Qais al-Khazali said the “Iraqi resistance will carry forward the mission of the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who dedicated his life to defending the oppressed,” Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Khazali said Nasrallah was a “great man who spent his entire life in the path of jihad and defense of the oppressed,” Al-Ahed news site reported.
About 200,000 Iraqis went to Lebanon for the funeral, according to Al-Ahed and IRNA.
A Houthi delegation attended the funeral
A Houthi delegation from Yemen also came to the funeral, and events were held by the pro-Iranian Houthis in Yemen. There were also delegations from Turkey and other countries at the event.
The speeches and statements at the event indicated that Iran’s axis of various groups in the region believe the “resistance” is not defeated. They are vowing to continue to confront Israel in the future.
Israel has another message for them. IAF fighter jets flew over Beirut during the events and also struck a site in Lebanon.
“The IDF struck military sites containing rocket launchers and weapons where Hezbollah activity was identified in the area of Baalbek and several additional areas in southern Lebanon,” the IDF reported.
It was one of two incidents the IDF mentioned on Sunday. In addition, on Saturday, the IDF said it had “conducted a strike on border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border through which the Hezbollah terrorist organization has attempted to smuggle weapons into Lebanon.”
The Beirut funeral was important for Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian groups. They need a show of strength to show that they are not weakened by Israel. The meetings with the new president of Lebanon were designed to showcase this. The IAF’s flyover, however, showed that things are not as they were a year ago.
This is an important moment for Iran to showcase that it still backs Hezbollah. After the fall of the Assad regime in Syria last December, the Iranians have been cut off from a land corridor to resupply Hezbollah. As such, this funeral was one way they could still show support.
Large numbers of people flew into Beirut and drove from other locations in Lebanon. Flights were packed from Baghdad to Beirut for the funeral. The people who came from Iraq included Shi’ites who back Hezbollah.
There were likely members of Iraqi Shi’ite militias as well. They are members of Hashd al-Shaabi, or what is known as the Popular Mobilization Units. These groups include the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which is an umbrella group of militias that attacked Israel over the past year.
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