Hezbollah holds funeral for late leader Nasrallah 5 months after his killing

Tens of thousands of people packed into a stadium in Beirut early Sunday to attend the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital.Hassan Nasrallah was killed when Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the terrorist group’s main operations room.His death was a major blow for the Iran-backed group that the late leader transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.Nasrallah was the group’s leader for more than 30 years and one of its founders.He enjoyed wide influence among Iran-backed groups in the region and was widely respected in the so-called Iran-led axis of resistance that included Iraqi, Yemeni and Palestinian factions.Sahar al-Attar, a mourner who traveled from Lebanon’s Bekaa valley for the funeral said she still “cannot believe what happened.”“We would have come even under bullets” to attend Nasrallah’s burial, she said.“It is an indescribable feeling.”Officials from around the region including Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were expected to attend the funeral at the Lebanese capital’s main sports stadium.Lebanese officials including the parliament speaker and representatives of the president and prime minister were expected to attend the funeral believed to be Lebanon’s largest in two decades.The two officials arrived on separate flights from Tehran Sunday morning in an apparent lifting of a ban on flights from Iran that was imposed after the Israeli army claimed Iran was smuggling cash to Hezbollah on commercial flights.Senior Hezbollah official Ali Daamoush told reporters Saturday that about 800 personalities from 65 countries will be attending the funeral in addition to thousands of individuals and activists from around the world.“Come from every home, village and city so that we tell the enemy that this resistance will stay and is ready in the fiel...