Hezbollah Pressures its Supporters to Attend Nasrallah Funeral

People visit the site where late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by the Israeli airstrike on 27 September 2024 in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, in the Dahieh suburb, southern Beirut, Lebanon, 21 February 2025. (EPA)
People visit the site where late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by the Israeli airstrike on 27 September 2024 in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, in the Dahieh suburb, southern Beirut, Lebanon, 21 February 2025. (EPA)
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Hezbollah Pressures its Supporters to Attend Nasrallah Funeral

People visit the site where late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by the Israeli airstrike on 27 September 2024 in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, in the Dahieh suburb, southern Beirut, Lebanon, 21 February 2025. (EPA)
People visit the site where late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by the Israeli airstrike on 27 September 2024 in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, in the Dahieh suburb, southern Beirut, Lebanon, 21 February 2025. (EPA)

Hezbollah has for over a month been preparing to hold a mass funeral for its slain leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, who were killed by Israel in 2024 in its last war with the Iran-backed party.

Hezbollah is aiming to use the funeral into a sort of referendum over its popularity and demonstrate that its supporters continue to stand by it after its heavy losses in the war and after it has been weakened politically in Lebanon.

The party has been calling on supporters in Lebanon and abroad to show up en masse to the funeral that will be held on Sunday.

The government had recently suspended flights from Iran to Beirut due to security concerns, which had left Hezbollah scrambling to find alternative routes to fly its supporters from Iran to Lebanon.

The Iranians have turned to Baghdad and flights from the Iraqi capital to Beirut have been fully booked for days.

Informed sources said Iran’s proxies in Iraq have worked on sending droves of people to the funeral.

Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport has been the scene of a number of disputes between travelers over the insistence of funeral attendees to brandish Nasrallah posters and chant slogans in support of the party.

Nasrallah’s son Mohammed Mehdi has also joined efforts to rally supporters. In an instagram post, he accused “enemies of working against us to prevent the funeral from happening.”

He called on those who can attend to do so and to ignore concerns about traffic and the poor weather.

Meanwhile, security agencies are on alert for any clashes that may erupt on the day of the funeral between Hezbollah supporters and its opponents.

President Joseph Aoun chaired on Friday a security meeting attended by the ministers of defense and interior and heads of security agencies to discuss the measures in place for the funeral.

A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the agencies are on their highest alert level throughout the country in anticipation of the funeral.

All precautions and plans are in place to confront any development, it added.

The funeral will likely leave Lebanon at a standstill as Hezbollah supporters flock to Beirut from across the country. Authorities have already suspended flights from Beirut airport on Sunday between 12 and 4 pm.

Hezbollah officials have called on the people to attend the funeral, revealing that travelers and officials from 79 countries are confirmed to be there.

People line up to check in for a flight to Beirut at the Baghdad International Airport on February 20, 2025. (AFP)

Politically-motivated

Political activist and editor-in-chief of Janoubia website Ali al-Amine said the intense rallying of supporters for the funeral is purely politically-motivated and has nothing to do with the burials.

Hezbollah is using every means at its disposal to rally and pressure supporters to attend the event. Anyone failing to show up will be viewed as a traitor to its cause and will face criticism, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Hezbollah is trying to impose a “new internal equation” to stand against the wave of change that has swept the country following the party’s defeat in the war, Aoun’s election and the formation of a new government that does not include Hezbollah ministers.

The party wants to act against the state building project, Amine warned.

Hezbollah is working on rallying its Shiite popular base because it believes it offers it “protection and immunity,” he went on to say.

Inciting Shiite sectarian sentiments and spending millions of dollars on Nasrallah’s funeral is an attempt to “sanctify” him and turn his burial site into a shrine similar to the Shiite ones in Iraq, Syria and Iran, he said.

Officials from the Iran-backed Houthi militias are also attending the funeral and Information Minister in Yemen’s legitimate government Moammar al-Eryani has called on Lebanese authorities to arrest them on charges of war crimes and human rights violations.

Former Minister Dr. Rashid Derbas told Asharq Al-Awsat that Beirut cannot arrest them without a warrant, which it does not have.



UK Foreign Secretary Visits Syria, Renewing Ties After 14 Years of Conflict

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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UK Foreign Secretary Visits Syria, Renewing Ties After 14 Years of Conflict

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met in Damascus on Saturday with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, marking the restoration of relations after 14 years of tension during Syria's conflict and Assad family rule.

Syria has been improving relations with Western countries following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December in an offensive led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.

Al-Sharaa’s office said Lammy and the president discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting cooperation and the latest regional and international developments. Lammy later met his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani, state media reported.

A statement issued by Britain's foreign office said the visit showed London's commitment to support Syria as the new government seeks to rebuild the country's economy, deliver an inclusive political transition and forge a path to justice for the victims of the Assad government.

It added that there will be new UK funding to assist with the removal of Assad-era chemical weapons and provide urgent humanitarian assistance in Syria, to bolster UK and Middle East security and tackle irregular migration. The statement said the British government wants to ensure that the ISIS group's territorial defeat “endures, and they can never resurge.”

ISIS once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it planned attacks worldwide. It was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled.

The statement said Britain's support for Syria is set to continue, with the additional 94.5 million pounds ($129 million) package announced Saturday. It will provide urgent humanitarian aid to Syrians, support Syria’s longer-term recovery through education and livelihoods, and support countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.

This handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 5, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) receiving British Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the presidential palace in Baabda. (Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

In April, the British government lifted sanctions against a dozen Syrian entities, including government departments and media outlets, to help the country rebuild after Assad's ouster. Weeks earlier, the UK had dropped sanctions against two dozen Syrian businesses, mostly banks and oil companies.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending many American economic sanctions on Syria, following through on a promise he made to al-Sharaa.

Syria’s new leaders have been struggling to rebuild the country’s decimated economy and infrastructure after nearly 14 years of civil war that has killed half a million people. In recent months, al-Sharaa visited oil-rich regional countries and France in May in his first visit to the Europe Union.

Also on Saturday, Lammy met in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and they discussed the situation along the Lebanon-Israel border following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

A statement issued by Aoun's office, quoted the Lebanese leader as telling Lammy that Beirut plans to raise the number of Lebanese troops along the border with Israel to 10,000. Aoun added that the only armed sides on the Lebanese side of the border will be Lebanon's national army and UN peacekeepers.