The funeral drew thousands to the streets of the Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday afternoon, with many mourners pumping their fists and proudly waving the militant group’s yellow flag. They had gathered to commemorate Ibrahim Akil and Mahmoud Hamad, two Hezbollah commanders killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.
The procession capped a week of bombings and funerals in the densely populated southern suburbs of central Beirut. A speech by a Hezbollah leader vowing revenge set off a sense of defiance among the crowd. But many residents there were also grappling with uncertainty about what might come next — and the possibility that the conflict with Israel could escalate into all-out war.
The streets of the suburb, usually busy on weekends, were eerily empty. Shops were closed, their doors locked behind metal gates, and the few cafes open were mostly empty.
“I have been to 15 funerals this week,” said a 50-year-old woman standing outside another funeral early Sunday afternoon for two young men killed in Friday’s airstrike. “We were waiting for this moment, we were waiting for this war,” she added, declining to reveal her name for fear of retaliation.
Like many other residents in the neighborhood, her tone was defiant — an echo of the image of strength that Hezbollah has sought to project in the wake of this week’s Israeli attacks.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, many residents were glued to their phones and televisions, waiting for news of additional Israeli airstrikes — hoping to hear that Hezbollah had responded.
Hawra Hijazi, 49, said she almost ran into the street to celebrate when news started trickling in that Hezbollah had fired a barrage of rockets, missiles and drones into Israeli territory overnight.
“I couldn’t sleep, I felt like revenge was coming,” she said.
But beneath the general confidence, there was also a sense of fear and dread—the grim realities and routines of war that residents knew all too well. Some quietly debated how to prepare: Should they stay in the suburbs? Go stay with relatives in a different part of Beirut? Leave the city altogether and set up second homes in the northern mountains?
Speaking at the funeral of the two Hezbollah leaders, the party’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said “what happened last night is just the beginning,” referring to the Israeli bombardment overnight. He also warned that the conflict had entered a “new phase.”
“We will kill them and fight them from where they expect and from where they do not expect,” he added, his voice echoing over loudspeakers to the thousands of people gathered.
Mr. Qassem’s speech — in a suburb that was devastated by Israeli bombing during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel and holds symbolic significance for its residents — seemed to make the prospect of an escalation of hostilities more real. But it also tapped into an undercurrent of anger in the neighborhood, where hundreds if not thousands of people have been injured in explosions over the past week.
“We want more revenge,” said Fatima Karki, 26. “The way they are killing our leaders, we want the resistance to kill its leaders.”
Around her, women nodded in agreement, many proudly wearing pins bearing the faces of relatives killed in various conflicts in Lebanon and Syria over the past two decades.
“We are ready for this, we are ready for war,” she added.
“Travel specialist. Typical social media scholar. Friend of animals everywhere. Freelance zombie ninja. Twitter buff.”
More Stories
Brandenburg election: Olaf Scholz’s SPD narrowly beats AfD
Marxist Anura Dissanayake wins Sri Lankan presidential election
Israel closes Al Jazeera office in Ramallah in occupied West Bank