He became a celebrated figure in Lebanon for Hezbollah’s role in ending Israel’s 18-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000, although that image was tarnished after the group’s intervention in Syria’s civil war in support of the long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Tens of thousands of people have attended a funeral in Beirut for Hassan Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed, Lebanese militia and political party Hezbollah for three decades before being killed in an Israeli bombing last September.
The conflict was confined mainly to the Lebanese border until a dramatic Israeli escalation and ground invasion in south Lebanon in late September 2024, which left more than 3,000 people in Lebanon dead and displaced more than a million people.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said the planes were “conveying a clear message: whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel – that will be the end of him.
Fighting officially ended under a ceasefire agreement and Israeli troops mostly withdrew on 18 February, though Israeli troops have remained in five points in south Lebanon and continue to strike targets periodically.
