Thousands to attend Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut today

Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in a stadium on the outskirts of Beirut on Sunday to attend the funeral of Hezbollah's former leader Hassan Nasrallah nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital. Dressed in black, men, women and children from Lebanon and beyond walked on foot in the biting cold to reach the site of the ceremony, delayed for months due to security reasons after Hezbollah's death in September.

The ceremony was held at Lebanon's biggest sports arena - Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. Video footages from the jam-packed stadium were widely shared on social media which showed people waving Hezbollah flags or carrying portraits of Nasrallah ahead of his funeral.

Hassan Nasrallah, who guided the Lebanese movement for more than three decades, was killed when Israel's air force dropped more than 80 bombs on Hezbollah's main operations room on September 27, 2024. His death was a major blow for the Iran-backed group that the late leader transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.