(22 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 22 February 2025
1. Various of people and cars with Hezbollah flags and photos of Nasrallah heading towards stadium
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Wafaa Sahili, Hezbollah supporter from Baalbeck:
“Our souls belong to the Sayyed (Nasrallah) and we are walking on his path in his footsteps. We are deeply heartbroken because we are not with him. We are in deep pain because we have been orphaned without him, the Sayyed. We have now become orphans.”
3. Various of traffic and people hanging out of car windows waving Hezbollah flags
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hussein Al Husseini, participant from Beirut’s suburbs:
“We are here to participate in the funeral of His Eminence, the great Jihad leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. This is the least we can do. We obey you Nasrallah!”
5. People dressed in black walking with Hezbollah flags
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan Haidar, participant from South Lebanon:
“Today we have come to reaffirm and renew our pledge to the master of the resistance, the Martyred Sayyed, that we will continue, and we will continue stronger than ever before.”
7. Various of people dressed in black walking with Hezbollah flags
8. Various of stadium with large posters of Hassan Nasrallah and his late successor Safieddine
9. Various of media personnel heading towards the stadium
10. Various of interior of stadium as final preparations for funeral are made
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Krayyem, Hezbollah media coordinator in Beirut:
“All preparations have been completed. As you can see, the sports city is now ready: chairs, everything, our screens are set up and our backdrops are fully prepared. Seating areas for dignitaries have been designated, work teams have been assigned and the protocol teams are in place. The mandatory entry and exit pathways have been determined, as well as reception areas for people coming from the Beqaa, the South, or other regions. Everything has been arranged. We can consider, theoretically, that the entire funeral plan is now ready.”
13. Various of the final burial place of Nasrallah near Beirut Airport road being prepared
STORYLINE:
Nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, thousands of supporters of the longtime leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group arrived in Beirut for Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral on Sunday.
At Beirut’s sports stadium, the work and preparations were in full swing for the day of the funeral Saturday.
During a tour organized by Hezbollah for media personnel, Hezbollah official Mohammad Krayyem told the Associated press that all preparations had been completed and the stadium was ready for the funeral.
Nasrallah was killed on Sept. 27 when Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on Hezbollah’s main operations room in southern Beirut.
It was the biggest and most consequential of Israel’s targeted killings in years.
The death of Nasrallah, one of the Iran-backed Shiite group’s founders and Hezbollah’s leader of more than 30 years, was a huge blow to the group he had transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.
Hezbollah, which the U.S. and some of its allies has designated a terrorist organization, has suffered significant losses in the latest war with Israel, including the killing of several of its most senior military and political figures.
His cousin and successor Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb a few days later, will be laid to rest in his hometown in southern Lebanon.
The two had temporarily been buried in secret locations.
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