BEIRUT, Lebanon: As the head of Hezbollah threatened to kill Israel, thousands of people in Beirut turned out to dance in a show of deep divisions in Lebanon.
In the southern part of the capital — a Hezbollah stronghold — tens of thousands of women and men in military uniform joined the funeral of commander Fuad Shukr on Thursday.
Across the seaside city of Beirut, nearly 8,000 people attended a spectacular dance performance that evening by the group Mayyas who won the 2022 “America's Got Talent” television competition.
“I'm sad that people are dying in southern Lebanon and Gaza, but resistance is not just carrying guns and fighting,” said Olga Farhat, 45.
“Joy, art and celebration of life are also forms of resistance,” the human rights activist told AFP.
Fireworks opened the dance show, hours after Hezbollah buried Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern part of the city on Tuesday.
The show, titled 'Qumi' — stands for Arabic — is an ode to the Lebanese capital, which has endured decades of conflict, unrest and a years-long economic crisis.
“There is a divide in the country between those who do not care about war and feel that… Hezbollah wants to establish a common identity, while other groups are fighting,” Farhat said.
“I understand both points of view, but we are tired of war and crisis, we want to enjoy life.”
In the south, thousands of Hezbollah supporters chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Across the city, dozens of Mayyas dancers performed a moving tribute to embattled south Lebanon, where Hezbollah has exchanged fire almost daily with Israeli forces since the Gaza war began on October 7.
“I grew up during the civil war in Lebanon (1975-1990) and was raised to believe in the Palestinian cause,” Farhat said.
“But today I say 'Lebanon first'.”
The attack that killed Shukr and an Iranian military adviser also claimed the lives of three women and two young men, officials said.
In a video circulating online, their distraught mother said their lives were “sacrificed for you, Sayyed (Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah).”
Hussein Nasreddine, 36, from the southern part of the city, said: “We want life like everyone else… but if Israel leads us to war, it is our duty to die.” martyr.”
Cross-border violence since October has killed at least 542 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also 114 civilians, according to AFP.
On the Israeli side, the army reports that 47 people died, including in the occupied Golan Heights.
In June, Hezbollah's head of the Lebanese parliament, Mohammad Raad, who lost a son in border clashes, criticized Lebanese “who want to go to nightclubs.” … beach, and will enjoy his life” because the war is raging. the south.
This week, independent lawmaker Mark Daou angered Hezbollah supporters by posting footage of Thursday night's demonstration with the comment: “The most violent response to Israel is the culture of life and beauty.”
Daou, who was elected after mass protests against political leaders responsible for plunging the country into an economic crisis, told AFP he refused to “reduce the Lebanon to the battlefield.
Many politicians, especially from Lebanon's Christian community, have criticized Hezbollah for risking their lives against Israel.
Peace expert Sonia Nakad said that “the greater the danger, the greater the division” in Lebanon.
In Lebanon, power is divided along sectarian lines, with communities so divided over the country's past that what happened after 1943 does not appear in official history books. .
“Each party wants to be a copy of them so that they can live together, but they are against everything,” he said.
“The Lebanese have not given up on the use of violence, no matter how big their differences,” he said.
Foreign airlines have suspended or canceled flights to Beirut but many Lebanese expatriates are still flocking, although some have cut their holidays short.
Rabab Abu Hamdan said he was planning to return to the Gulf after feeling “very nervous the last few days.”
“Despite the difficult situation, Lebanon remains the best holiday destination,” he said.
