Pockets of revelry at Nasrallah killing across Middle East, including in Syria, Iran
Syrians take to streets in rebel-held areas to hail assassination of Hezbollah leader; group of Iranian women congratulates Israel; journalists, influencers celebrate online
Bucking condemnations of Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by the leaders of some Middle East nations, some in the region took to the streets to celebrate the Lebanese terror chief’s demise, including in Syria and Iran, two key backers of Hezbollah.
Even before Hezbollah on Saturday confirmed his death, festivities broke out over the possibility that Nasrallah had been killed in a Friday evening airstrike in Beirut.
While Syria panned Nasrallah’s killing, in areas outside government control some celebrated, including in the jihadist-run rebel bastion of Idlib, where people waved Syrian flags and handed out sweets early Saturday morning, cheering and honking car horns.
Many Syrian opposition supporters and activists despise Hezbollah, which fought rebel forces in a number of areas in the country’s civil war, leading to heavy losses among opposition factions and forcing tens of thousands to flee.
There was also merry-making inside Iran, Hezbollah’s chief sponsor.
A video posted to social media showed some women in the Islamic Republic toasting to the news. While they did not show their faces, the speaker in the video said in Persian that they, “the children of Iran, send a congratulatory message to everyone for the death of Hassan Nasrallah and congratulate the Iranian nation,” adding a thank you for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Pro-shah Iranians also gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London to celebrate, singing and thanking Israel for killing Hezbollah’s leader.
Meanwhile, notable figures from Arab nations took to social media to celebrate the news.
Lebanese anti-Hezbollah journalist Nadim Koteich posted on X on Saturday that “the most dangerous thing for Lebanon is not the absence of Hezbollah. The most dangerous absence for the fate and future of Lebanon is the absence of the full Lebanese state.”
He added that what needed to happen following Nasrallah’s death was “an emergency meeting in the Maronite headquarters… to announce a unilateral ceasefire in the name of Lebanon to save the nation and a full commitment without conditions to the UN 1701 resolution,” which established the disarmament of all military forces in Lebanon aside from the nation’s official army and their withdrawal north of the Litani River.
Hezbollah has flouted the resolution over the years, especially in the last year when it launched near-daily rocket and drone attacks at Israel from southern Lebanon, where it is forbidden from operating.
Other journalists from Syria and Saudi Arabia posted on social media celebrating “the end of an era” and the “death of one of the biggest threats to Arabs, Islam, and the world.”
Saudi influencer Abdullah Al-Shaikh wrote that the joy at the news was “indescribable.”
“He was a leader of violence, extremism, terrorism, and betrayal,” he said, expressing his hope that Nasrallah’s death would mean “stability and peace in the region.”
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday morning confirmed that it had killed Nasrallah along with other senior Hezbollah commanders in a strike on the leader’s Beirut bunker.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has spiked in recent weeks after 11 months of simmering border conflict.
Since October 8, 2023 — just a day after Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 and abducting 251 — Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the border in solidarity with the Palestinian terror group, which is also sponsored by Iran.
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