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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">The funeral that sealed Hezbollah’s unbreakable covenant</h1><p class="gmail-">Hassan
Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut became a powerful testament to the
enduring spirit of resistance, as millions gathered to honor his memory
amidst the wreckage left by the Israeli aggression in south Lebanon and
the southern suburbs of Beirut. Despite the destruction and constant
threats, the resolute defiance of the people made it clear: the
resistance remains steadfast.</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/pepe-escobar" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">Pepe Escobar</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">FEB 25, 2025 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/the-funeral-that-sealed-hezbollahs-unbreakable-covenant">https://thecradle.co/articles/the-funeral-that-sealed-hezbollahs-unbreakable-covenant</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/816e9dd8-f39b-11ef-bc3c-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="462" height="219" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">BEIRUT
- It’s about 1:30 pm on Sunday, 23 February. Inside Beirut's vast
Sports City Stadium, at least 100,000 people clad in black and draped in
yellow resistance flags pay their respects as the caskets of the late
Hezbollah secretary-generals Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine
begin to make a slow turn around the arena.</span></p><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/7fb42fc2-f395-11ef-908c-00163e02c055.png" width="462" height="347" style="margin-right: 25px;"><sup>A photo of Beirut's Sports City Stadium during Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine's funeral ceremony. </sup><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Suddenly
a triangular formation of Israeli F-15 and F-35 fighter jets pierce the
skies, buzzing the stadium as low as aeronautically possible. In any
other nation, on such a somber occasion, this would have been an aerial
tribute for the ceremony taking place on the ground. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">But
this is Lebanon – a nation under pressure by the usual suspects, whose
national army is prohibited from purchasing high-tech jet fighters and
any meaningful air defenses. So the Israeli aerial show was,
predictably, yet another provocation – one which, incidentally,
instantly turned against the perpetrators. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">The
whole stadium – plus the more than a million Lebanese congregating
around it – outroared the agent provocateurs, in a cacophony of insults
and deprecatory remarks. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Mockery
prevailed, rather than rage. What are you gonna do? Bomb all of us at
the same time – as you did with Sayyed Nasrallah on 27 September 2024?
We’re here, and we’re ready. Bring it on, cowards. </span></p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">“Death to Israel,” they chanted, a sea of fists pumping the air. “</span>Labayka ya Nasrallah” (“at your service, oh Nasrallah”), they roared in unison.</p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">The
handlers obviously did not get the message, because the pathetic
Hasbara air show got a replay less than an hour later, met with even
louder cries of derision and defiance. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Incidentally,
Lebanese engineers confirm that when the Israeli Air Force dropped
dozens of synchronized bombs on Hezbollah’s underground command HQ in
Dahiye, the southern Beirut suburb, to assassinate the resistance
leader, this could only have been accomplished with US high-tech
intel/satellite know-how. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">The
gathered human intel that facilitated this massive hit could only have
been collected by boots on the ground - in this case, many believe, an
array of Syrian refugees ferociously anti-Hezbollah. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Israeli
intel may boast of – potentially – infiltrating some nodes of
Hezbollah’s nearly iron-clad internal discipline as well as possessing
all the American high-tech gear it needs to stage everything from
childish provocations to Hell from Above. But when it comes to the nitty
gritty – actual battle – the Israeli occupation army is actually a
bunch of wimps. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"><strong>Masters of Destruction </strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">And
that brings us to the senseless devastation inflicted by Israel on
south Lebanon with its failed “invasion.” Occupation troops tried
desperately for 66 days to penetrate deep into the south, but were
unable to progress more than a few kilometers across the border, before
immediately retreating back to their safe zones.</span></p><p>This daily
pattern of loss infuriated Israeli leaders, who made up for this
deficiency by launching disproportionate and indiscriminate air attacks
across Lebanon. The n<span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">umbers vary, but at least 4,800 Lebanese were killed in battles and missile attacks across the south, the majority civilians. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">With
no tangible gains and massive Israeli troop demoralization on the
Lebanese border, Tel Aviv literally begged Washington to strike a
ceasefire deal with Hezbollah. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">That inevitably opened the terrain for the true and tested specialty of a cowardly army: Revenge. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Nothing
prepares anyone to witness the remains of the insane destruction
perpetrated by the Israelis in selected south Lebanon latitudes – from
Maroun al-Ras to Odaisseh – most of this carnage wreaked </span><i><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">after</span></i><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> the ceasefire agreement was struck. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Maroun
al-Ras is on the top of a hill, strategically overlooking Palestine in
the deep background. It’s now a classic case of how Israel totally
destroys a village in order </span><i><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">not</span></i><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> to save it.</span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Maroun
al-Ras, part of the union of municipalities of Qalaa, harbored roughly
600 residential units, with around 2,500 to 3,000 residents. During the
ceasefire, the Israelis – who lacked the competence to occupy it during
the war – came back and destroyed everything, from booby-trapping homes
to bulldozing roads and uprooting trees. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Walking
around the wasteland of Maroun al-Ras is the epitome of Desolation Row:
a sort of microcosm of Gaza, equally unlivable. Yet the resistance is
everywhere – from Hezbollah flags and countless pictures of local
martyrs duly honored to the first bulldozers starting to remove piles of
detritus. </span></p><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/68e9f1a6-f394-11ef-978e-00163e02c055.jpeg" width="462" height="260" style="margin-right: 25px;"><sup>A photo showing the destruction in south Lebanon's Maroun al-Ras.</sup><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Odaisseh,
smack at the Palestine border, is an equally horrifying case. Once
again, the Israeli army failed to capture the town after two months of
fierce fighting with Hezbollah. Once again, the ceasefire was used for a
Revenge Operation. Odaisseh, today, stands literally razed to the
ground. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">In all these cases,
there was absolutely not a single peep from NATOstan media and not a
single forceful condemnation, not to mention action, by the United
Nations. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Unlike Maroun
al-Ras, where you see occupied Palestine from afar, at the top of the
hill (in the foreground, it’s actually stolen Lebanese land), the limits
of Odaisseh are right in front of an occupying/invading power
checkpoint. A group of Israeli occupiers pointed their guns at us </span><a href="https://x.com/s_m_marandi/status/1893274017542365429">during our visit<span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">. </span></a><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">But the most significant bunch were those who peered behind a wall in fear. </span></p><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/468b25ee-f394-11ef-a866-00163e02c055.jpeg" width="462" height="260" style="margin-right: 25px;"><sup>A photo showing the destruction in south Lebanon's Odaisseh.</sup><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Tel Aviv, predictably, continues to violate the ceasefire it begged for: its troops remain as invaders in </span><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/why-israel-occupies-five-lebanese-hills">five hilltop positions</a> in south Lebanon,<span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> and its air force persists in conducting </span>air<span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> strikes across the country. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Seen
as pieces in a mosaic, the aerial provocation on Sunday, coupled with
the senseless destruction of villages in south Lebanon, depict what, at
best, should be construed as a Revenge Killing Machine posing as a
nation-state. </span></p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Yet
the resistance, now embodied by the memory and example of Sayyed
Nasrallah, simply will not be intimidated. It’s no accident that he is
and will continue to be revered all across the Arab world, the lands of
Islam, and the Global Majority. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">So
what if the president and premier of Lebanon did not attend the funeral
ceremony on Sunday? These are mere puppets. What matters is what was
sealed by this extraordinarily moving funeral ceremony: “We are the
covenant.” The resistance’s rallying cry simply won’t be erased. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">In
his last speech, on 19 September 2024, the day after the Israeli terror
attack on Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies, and only eight days
before his assassination by 85 one-ton American bombs, Nasrallah all but
laid out the inevitable future: </span></p><blockquote><p><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">“</span>The
hour of reckoning will come, but we alone will determine its nature,
its scale, its location, and its execution – within the tightest circle
possible. For we are at the heart of the most precise, the most
sensitive, the most profound, and the most decisive battle.<span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">”</span></p></blockquote></span></div></div></div></div>
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