Lebanon After the Ceasefire: Hizballah and Politics

The procession of mourners continues, and no one comes alone. Some arrive with family, parents, and children. Others come with friends. Only the sound of a excavator moving damp earth and debris interrupts the deep quiet that fills the scene. Most suppress their tears, having shed them far from here. Yet one woman, overwhelmed by sobs, embodies the grief of an entire community. In their view, a vast crater opens up. At its bottom stood Nasrala, the man who had led Hizbulá for decades as secretary-general. While reports circulated about his death in an Israeli strike, the Libyan-like crowd breathed a cautious relief as a ceasefire offered a moment of respite. The hundreds of thousands of Shiites who had mourned Nasrala for weeks continue to grieve, even as a fragile calm returns to the streets.