Hezbollah defies Lebanon PM, honors terror chief Nasrallah with coastal light show

Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered at a scenic overlook on Beirut’s coast this evening and projected images of the group’s former longtime leader of the Iran-backed terror group and his successor on the iconic arched Raouche rock to commemorate their deaths in Israeli airstrikes nearly a year ago.

The move came despite an apparent attempt by Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to halt the planned light show.

Salam issued a circular earlier this week pointing to “the recent recurrence of the exploitation of national monuments for propaganda purposes and to hold activities in which partisan and political slogans are raised.”

He directed public bodies to “strictly prohibit the use of public land and sea areas, archaeological and tourist landmarks, or those that bear a unifying national symbolism before obtaining the necessary licenses and permits from the relevant authorities.”

Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the terror group, was killed in a series of massive Israeli strikes on a site in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, 2024, that destroyed an entire block under which Nasrallah was meeting with an Iranian general and some of his top military commanders.

Days later, Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Safieddine, was killed in another series of airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Salam says in a post on X that a gathering permit was issued by the governor of Beirut to the organizers of the demonstration, but “clearly stipulated that the Raouche rocks shall not be illuminated at all, whether from land, sea, or air, and no light images shall be broadcast on them.”

He says he has asked the ministers of interior, justice and defense to take “appropriate measures, including arresting the perpetrators and referring them for investigation” and that the incident “negatively impacted [Hezbollah’s] credibility in dealing with the logic of the state and its institutions.”

A Hezbollah representative, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s procedures, confirms that the organizers had only requested permission for the gathering.

He says it was unclear which agency had authority to give permission for the light show on the rock and that they considered it was covered by “freedom of expression” under Lebanon’s constitution.

The event is a show of force by the Shiite terror group and political party, which suffered serious blows in last year’s war with Israel and has been under domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal since then.