Hundreds of thousands attend funeral of former Hezbollah leader, 5 months after his killing скачать в хорошем качестве

Hundreds of thousands attend funeral of former Hezbollah leader, 5 months after his killing

(23 Feb 2025) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Beirut, Lebanon - 23 February 2025 1. Wide of convoy carrying coffins of Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine 2. Close of band playing music 3. Various of convoy 4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Wahib Qaseer, mourner: “What can we say about the Sayyed Hassan? What he did is indescribable, and he is our leader during his life and he is our leader in his death, his martyrdom. He will be our leader for life.” 5. Various of coffins passing by crowd 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Saifeddine, mourner: “We are in the remembrance of the Sayyed, the leader of the martyrs, the leader of the Arab martyrs. We can do anything but just walk behind this funeral procession. We are committed to the covenant.” 7. Various of convoy 8. Various of crowds of people walking 9. Wide of Israeli fighter jets flying over STORYLINE: Hundreds of thousands of people lined the street of the old airport road in Beirut on Sunday, for the funeral of Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike. "What he did is indescribable, and he is our leader during his life and he is our leader in his death, his martyrdom," said Wahib Qaseer, a mourner who attended the event. Nasrallah died when Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the militant group’s main operations room in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital. It dealt a major blow to the Iran-backed group and political party that he had transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.  Nasrallah was one of Hezbollah's founders, and led the group for more than 30 years, enjoying wide influence among the so-called Iran-led “axis of resistance” that also included Iraqi, Yemeni and Palestinian factions.  Nasrallah also became an icon in other parts of the Arab world after Hezbollah fought Israel to a draw in a brutal month-long war in 2006, but the group's image suffered after it intervened on the side of former President Bashar Assad in Syria's civil war. Hezbollah called on its supporters to attend the funeral in large numbers, to show that it remains powerful even after suffering significant setbacks during a 14-month war with Israel that left many of its senior political and military officials dead. A Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, estimated the crowd size at 450,000. Nasrallah shared the funeral with his cousin and successor, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb a few days later. Nasrallah will be laid to rest later Sunday in Beirut, while Safieddine will be buried in his hometown in southern Lebanon. Both had temporarily been buried in secret locations.  As the coffins were paraded before the huge crowd, men riding on the platforms with them tossed flowers. Some in the crowd threw clothing articles in the hope they would come in contact with the coffins, believing it would bless them.   AP video by Fadi Tawil Mohammad Annouti =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...