Tehran: People in different Iranian cities participated in symbolic funerals to pay their respects to assassinated Lebanese resistance leaders Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Saffieddine. The ceremonies were held on Sunday evening in the capital, Tehran, and other cities including Qom, Shiraz, Qeshm, and Zanjan.
According to Islamic Republic News Agency, top Iranian officials, including Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, attended the ceremony in Tehran. Addressing the gathering at Imam Khomeini Mosalla, Salami paid tribute to Nasrallah, describing him as the 'most distinguished figure' in the Arab world. He emphasized the pride that the world takes in such personalities and remarked on Israel's perceived weakness due to the steadfastness of the resistance front and their leaders.
Salami highlighted a misconception among Israeli authorities during the war, who believed that Hezbollah would be defeated by assassinating its leaders. He noted that this belief was proven wrong as the Israeli regime was eventually forced to retreat from Gaza. Salami asserted that the Zionists have conceded to all the demands of Hamas. Earlier in the day, a historic funeral took place in Beirut for Hezbollah's long-serving leader Nasrallah and his successor, Safieddine, both assassinated by Israel during its air aggression on Lebanon last year.
People from various regions of Lebanon and around the world converged in Beirut to attend the funeral prayers and bid farewell to the two resistance leaders. A high-ranking delegation from the Iranian government, including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, traveled to Beirut to attend the procession.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for 32 years, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on September 27 last year in Dahieh, a southern suburb of Beirut. Safieddine, who was named Hezbollah's secretary-general following Nasrallah's assassination, was killed in a similar Israeli act of aggression in Dahieh on October 3.