Hezbollah prepares for Nasrallah funeral after IDF’s withdrawal from most of Lebanon

Beirut airport will close for four hours on Sunday during the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s civil aviation authority announced Tuesday, after Israeli troops withdrew from nearly all areas in southern Lebanon, with the exception of several key positions.

“The airport will be closed, and takeoffs and landings… will halt on February 23, 2025, from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m.,” the authority said in a statement carried by official media on Tuesday.

Nasrallah was killed in a huge Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, 2024, as Israel scaled up its campaign against the Iran-backed terror group following almost a year of cross-border attacks.

After decades at the helm of the group once seen as a formidable foe to Israel, the killing of the charismatic leader sent shockwaves across Lebanon and the wider region.

Sunday’s funeral will also be for Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah figure who had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah before he too was killed in an Israeli strike in October.

The funeral is to begin at 1 p.m. at a sports stadium in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

It will include a speech by current Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem and is to be followed by a procession to Nasrallah’s burial site on the outskirts of Beirut.

Saffiedine will be buried in his hometown of Deir Qanun.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that Iran “will participate in this ceremony at a high level,” without specifying who would attend.

Qassem over the weekend called for broad participation as a demonstration of the group’s strength.

“We want to transform this funeral into a show of support and an affirmation of (Hezbollah’s) plan and approach, and hold our heads high,” Qassem said.

Hezbollah has said 79 countries would be involved in the commemoration, whether at an official or “popular” level.

Earlier this month, in a security alert about the funeral, the US embassy urged its nationals to avoid the area “which includes the airport.”

Nasrallah had been temporarily buried elsewhere because of security concerns, Qassem said, and the group had also put off the public funeral for security reasons. Shiite Muslim rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.

Criticism over Israeli ‘buffer zone’

Hezbollah officials had previously indicated that Nasrallah would be buried following the initial 60-day ceasefire period with Israel, which ended on January 26. However, the deadline for the IDF to withdraw was later pushed back to Tuesday, February 18, after Israel assessed that the Lebanese army had deployed too slowly across the region.

The IDF withdrew from the remaining southern Lebanon villages it had yet to leave around an hour before the Tuesday deadline for the withdrawal expired, but remained in five key positions that Israel said would act as a “buffer zone” from which it would enforce the ceasefire “against any violation by Hezbollah.”

The military said on Monday that it was prepared to stay at the posts for a lengthy period, with approval from the US, until Hezbollah fully withdraws beyond the Litani River, as per the terms of the ceasefire, and the Israeli political leadership instructs it to leave.

Following the withdrawal, the US State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs Bureau said in a post on X that the US “is committed to supporting the implementation of the cessation of hostilities and will continue to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces, Lebanon’s sole security guarantor.”

Both Israel and Hezbollah have continued to accuse each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire, even as the IDF withdrew and the Lebanese army deployed across southern Lebanon.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the continued presence of “Hezbollah activists south of the Litani River” was the “most basic violation” of the ceasefire agreement.

“Once Lebanon implements its side of the deal, there will be no need to hold these points,” he said.

In turn, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters from Yaroun, on the border with Israel, that “the Israeli enemy is still occupying Lebanese land and this Lebanese land must be liberated, and now the primary responsibility falls on the Lebanese state.”

The delayed withdrawal from the five key outposts was met with criticism from Lebanon, and a spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency said on Tuesday that the country would consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation, and has the right to use all means to ensure an Israeli withdrawal.

After a meeting between President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the three leaders said the Lebanese army was ready “to assume all its duties along the… borders,” presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said.

She added that Lebanon would also seek the UN Security Council’s help to “address Israeli violations and compel Israel to immediately withdraw.”

In a separate statement, the office of Aoun said that Beirut was in contact with Washington and Paris to press Israel to complete the withdrawal.

At the same time, the United Nations’ Lebanon envoy and peacekeeping forces warned in a joint statement that the delayed withdrawal violated the UN resolution that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War and formed the basis of the latest truce deal.

“Today marks the end of the period set for the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces… and the parallel Lebanese Armed Forces deployment to positions in southern Lebanon,” the joint statement said, adding: “Another delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen, not least because it continues a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006).”

The UN statement nevertheless praised what it said was “tangible progress that has been made since the Understanding came into force in late November.”

“The Israel Defense Forces have withdrawn from population centers in southern Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces have deployed in challenging conditions, supporting the return of communities and working to restore critical services,” it said.

The ceasefire deal ended two months of full-scale war that followed months of lower-intensity exchanges.

Hezbollah began near-daily attacks on northern Israel one day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza. Some 60,000 Israeli residents of the north were displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks, with rocket fire eventually spreading to the center of the country.

Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, launching a series of devastating blows against the group’s leadership and killing its longtime chief Nasrallah before launching a ground invasion in southern Lebanon aimed at securing the border and enabling the return of displaced Israelis.

Should the ceasefire continue to hold after the IDF withdrawal, tens of thousands of displaced residents of northern Israel will begin to return to their homes on March 2.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.