He was like a father to us: Hezbollah supporters mourn Hassan Nasrallah | Israel-Lebanon attacks

Beirut, Lebanon On Friday evening, Mariam* was in her apartment with her teenage daughter and her mother when her building began to rumble and shake. Anguished screams and the buzz of Israeli warplanes soon followed.

Israel had just launched a major airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and an unknown number of civilians in Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon's capital.

Shortly after the attack, Israel called on thousands of civilians to evacuate Dahiyeh, saying they lived near Hezbollah operational centers.

Mariam quickly packed a few bags of clothes and fled to downtown Beirut, where she now sleeps on the steps of a mosque with hundreds of other displaced people from her community.

But even though Israel upended her life, she said it was nothing compared to the anguish of losing Nasrallah.

When I first heard the news, I thought it was a lie. I thought, 'This can't be true,' she told Al Jazeera, holding back tears. Nasrallah was our brother and we always felt safe with him. Now we do not know what our fate will be.

A tent set up by scouts on Beirut's Ramlet el-Bayda beach welcomes people displaced by Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera]
A brother, a father

Nasrallah became Hezbollah's leader after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992. Al-Musawi, his wife and five-year-old son were killed in an airstrike on their home.

Once Nasrallah took power, he quickly began transforming Hezbollah from a rebel movement into one of the most powerful armed groups in the world as well as a formidable bulwark against Israeli aggression.

Under his leadership, Hezbollah liberated southern Lebanon from 18-year Israeli occupation, earning him hero status throughout the region.

His charisma and insight made him one of the most respected and feared leaders in the Middle East.

He then became a polarizing figure in Lebanon and the region after Hezbollah intervened in Syria's civil war to save President Bashar al-Assad from a pro-democracy uprising that quickly turned into armed conflict after that al-Assad's forces turned their weapons on protesters, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

Throughout the war, the Syrian government and Hezbollah have committed atrocities, according to media and rights groups.

The reports damaged Nasrallah's popularity in the region, but his strongest supporters supported him, fearing that no one else could or would protect Lebanon from Israel.

Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims now mourn a man they consider the brother and even father of their people.

In downtown Beirut, displaced families from Dahiyeh described Nasrallah as a martyr who gave his life to stand up to Israel.

I just want to listen to his voice again. He was like a father to us. He was not just a politician, said Nivine, a Hezbollah supporter and Dahiyeh resident uprooted by the strikes.

But we will continue [Nasrallahs path]. We will continue to fight to bring down Israel, which has always been its wish, she told Al Jazeera.

Nivine, who fled Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, distributes Lebanese manakish to other displaced people at the Al-Amin Mosque in central Beirut [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera]
Lack of protection?

With Nasrallah gone and Hezbollah reeling from the loss of many senior commanders in recent days, many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fear they will have no one to protect them.

Don't you see all the crimes of Israel? They bomb and destroy everything, killing women and children. And no Arab or Western country is intervening to stop it, Nivine said.

But Nivine, like other Dahiyeh residents, believes Hezbollah will ultimately survive Israel's recent blows.

Hassan, 25, spoke matter-of-factly about Nasrallah and the resistance, a term generally referring to Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned armed groups that oppose Israel and the role of United States in the region.

We will continue and the movement will continue. People will be martyred, but [the resistance] will continue, he told Al Jazeera.

Hassan added that he was particularly upset by Nasrallah's death because he was a symbol of major defiance. According to him, Nasrallah was the only world leader to help the Palestinians in Gaza by opening a front of support against Israel from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said its aim was to ease pressure on Hamas, which is struggling for survival after launching an attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,139 people.

Israel responded by attacking Gaza and killing more than 40,000 people since October.

Nasrallah's decision to support Hamas cost him his life.

He defended Gaza, Hassan said resignedly on the steps of a mosque. I know he is dead. But he is now in a better place than the one we all live in.

Children play on their family's luggage in Beirut's Al-Amin Central Mosque, where they have taken refuge from Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs. [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera]
An uncertain future

Mohamad, a Syrian national living in Lebanon since 2009, said he fled southern Lebanon to Dahiyeh after Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging fire on October 8, 2023.

He said the bustling neighborhood welcomed him, his daughter and his wife soon after they arrived.

He too mourns Nasrallah.

I was in shock when I heard the news. We will remember him as the one who stood up to the Zionists and went to war against Israel, he told Al Jazeera.

But now that he is gone, fear and uncertainty reign. We don't know what will happen. Will there be more bombings in Beirut? Will the situation get worse? Or will it stop? Nobody knows.

Mariam, who fled with her mother and daughter, expressed the same ambivalence about her life and the fate of Lebanon. Everything she holds dear has been destroyed due to Israel's incessant bombing of Dahiyeh over the past 24 hours, she said.

She mourns the loss of a neighborhood that envelopes a lifetime of memories, good and bad. She also mourns the loss of several friends, many of whom were killed in Israeli strikes, and others still missing. But like many people in her community, she said Nasrallah's death was the hardest news to swallow.

We felt safe when he was here with us, she said, her eyes filling with tears. Now we don't know if we will be safe again.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/28/he-was-like-a-father-to-us-hezbollah-supporters-mourn-hassan-nasrallah The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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