Regional
Tens of thousands mourn Hezbollah’s slain leader Nasrallah in mass funeral
Tens of thousands of people bid farewell to Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at a mass funeral in Beirut on Sunday, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a stunning blow to the Iranian-backed group.
Carrying pictures of Nasrallah and Hezbollah flags, supporters from Lebanon and other countries in the region filled the 55,000-seat Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, Reuters reported.
The killing of Nasrallah, who led the Shi’ite Muslim group through decades of conflict with Israel and oversaw its transformation into a military force with regional sway, was one of the opening salvos in an Israeli escalation that badly weakened Hezbollah.
But the group’s current leader, Naim Qassem, whose remote address to the mourners was broadcast on screens from an undisclosed location, said Hezbollah remained “strong”.
“We will not submit and we will not accept the continuation of our killing and occupation while we watch,” Qassem said.
Though Israel’s military has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon, its air force is still striking on what it says are Hezbollah positions across Lebanon and troops still hold five hilltop positions along the border.
Israeli warplanes carried out strikes in Lebanon’s south and east on Sunday morning and flew low over Beirut twice during the funeral, prompting shouts of “Death to Israel” from the crowds.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said in a post on X that the planes flying “above Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral are conveying a clear message: whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel – that will be the end of him. You will specialize in funerals – and we will specialize in victories.”
Qassem said Hezbollah considered Israel’s five positions an occupation and was relying on the Lebanese government to secure a full withdrawal through diplomacy.
“We choose to fire when we see fit and are patient when we see fit,” he said.
‘CLINGING ON’
Among those in attendance were Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, an Iraqi delegation including Shi’ite politicians and militia commanders, and a delegation from Yemen’s Houthis.
The mass funeral is aimed at showing strength after Hezbollah emerged battered from last year’s war with Israel, which killed most of its leadership and thousands of fighters, and wreaked destruction on south Lebanon.
Its weakened stature has been reflected in Lebanon’s post-war politics, with the group unable to impose its will in the formation of a new government and language legitimising its arsenal omitted from the new cabinet’s policy statement.
The impact on Hezbollah was compounded by the ousting of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, severing a key supply route.
“We may have lost a great deal as a man, but we have not lost the value of the resistance because the resistance is clinging on,” said Hassan Nasreddine, a Lebanese man headed to the ceremony from the south.
Before the funeral, Araqchi and other Iranian officials met Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who was invited but did not attend the ceremony.
According to a statement from Aoun’s office, he told the Iranian delegation that Lebanon was “tired of the war of others” and that it had “paid a heavy price for the Palestinian cause”.
The conflict spiralled after Hezbollah opened fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The funeral was also being held for Hashem Safieddine, who led Hezbollah for a week after Nasrallah’s death. He was killed in an Israeli strike before he had been publicly announced as Nasrallah’s successor.
After his death, Nasrallah was buried temporarily next to his son, Hadi, who died fighting for Hezbollah in 1997. His official funeral was delayed to allow time for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon under the terms of a U.S.-backed ceasefire which ended last year’s war.
He is set to be buried on Sunday near the stadium. Safieddine is set to be buried on Monday in southern Lebanon.
The Islamic Iran Nation’s Union Party sought the release of secretary-general Azar Mansouri, the Shargh newspaper said on Monday, after her arrest along with other members of the Reform Front, an umbrella body of Iranian reformists and moderates.
A campaign of mass arrests and intimidation has led to the arrests of thousands as authorities seek to deter further protests after last month’s crackdown on the bloodiest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
On Sunday, state media said three senior figures from Iran’s Reform Front were arrested, among them Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Aminzadeh, and Azar Mansouri, who acts as the front’s head, according to Reuters.
Shargh said at least two more Reform Front members were asked to report to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran’s Evin prison on Tuesday.
The Reform Front’s spokesperson, Javad Emam, was also arrested, Mansouri’s lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, said on Monday, adding that it was unclear what charges faced those detained.
“We basically don’t know what caused these arrests, because the Reform Front has not yet issued a statement about the recent events (protests),” Kermani told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA). “Individuals may have commented on their own.”
On Sunday, the judiciary’s media outlet Mizan said “four important political elements supporting the Zionist (regime) and the United States” were indicted, but gave no details.
Tehran has blamed unrest-related violence on “rioters and armed terrorists” it says were backed by its key enemies, Israel and the United States.
Past Reform Front statements have been highly critical of authorities. After the 12-day war against Israel, its members warned that “incremental collapse” awaited the country if it did not adopt fundamental reforms.
Kermani said the recent arrests were not related to a judicial case launched against the Front after that statement, however.
An explosion at a small biotech company in northern China early Saturday killed eight people, China’s state media reported on Sunday.
The explosion occurred in Shuoyang in the Shanxi province in the early morning of Saturday, state media reported, according to Reuters.
The legal representative of Jiapeng Biotechnology has been detained and the city has set up an accident investigation team, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The firm is located in a mountain hollow and dark yellow smoke was seen billowing from the accident site, Xinhua said.
Reuters was not able to contact the company, which does not maintain a website. The cause of the reported explosion was not immediately clear.
Founded in June 2025, Jiapeng Biotechnology conducts research on animal feed, coal products and building materials, according to its corporate registration.
Iran’s foreign minister on Friday described talks with the United States in Oman as a “good start,” saying the negotiations “can also have a good continuation,” Iranian state media reported.
The discussions, mediated by Oman, marked a resumption of nuclear diplomacy between Tehran and Washington. Iranian state media said the current round of talks concluded on Friday, with both delegations returning to their respective capitals.
Speaking to state media reporters in Muscat, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the talks’ progress depends on the U.S. and on decisions made in Tehran.
Araghchi said a “significant challenge” remains, citing a prevailing atmosphere of distrust. He said Iran’s priority is to overcome this distrust and then establish an agreed framework for the talks and the issues on the table.
He described the talks as a fresh round of dialogue after eight turbulent months that included a war, saying the accumulated distrust presents a major obstacle to negotiations.
“If this same approach and perspective are maintained by the other side, we can reach an agreed framework in future sessions,” Araghchi said, adding that he did not want to judge prematurely.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei also confirmed on the social media platform X that both sides agreed to continue talks and would decide the next round in consultation with their capitals.
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