Thousands of people visited the memorial of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

Thousands of people descended on the site where former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike, after the group allowed access to the area for the first time to hold a public memorial service.

The giant crater left by the Beirut attack was lit red and decorated with Hezbollah flags. In its center, torches shine beams of light into the night sky.

Men, women and children wept at the sight of the crater, while the crowd chanted “At your service, Nasrallah” — a popular rallying cry among Hezbollah supporters.

Nasrallah led Hezbollah for more than 30 years as it became a formidable force in Lebanon, making him one of the most influential figures in the Middle East.

A ceasefire agreed between Hezbollah and Israel on Wednesday cleared the way for the southern suburb where Nasrallah was killed on September 27 to be opened to journalists and the public.

The former militant and political group closely guarded the entrance to the suburb, known as Dahieh, especially the site of Nasrallah’s assassination, which was completely sealed off.

The Israeli strike that killed the Hezbollah leader is said to have included up to 80 bunker-busting bombs, and it destroyed several residential buildings in Harek Hreik – the neighborhood that is the center of Hezbollah operations in Beirut.

When crowds were first allowed access to the site on Saturday night, people flooded into the open area left by destroyed buildings and clambered around the edge of the crater.

Many people held up candles and photos of Nasrallah, 64, while the former leader’s speech was broadcast from the sound system.

“For these two and a half months, we didn’t believe he was really gone,” said Narjis Khshaish, 31, crying while clutching a candle.

“We are all waiting to reach this place to receive His blessings,” she said.

Moussa Dirani, 57, brought his teenage son to the memorial service. “It’s sad and painful to see this site,” he said. “But the resistance does not stop at Nasrallah, his death gives us the strength to continue following his path.”

Fida Nasreddine, 34, said the hundreds of Hezbollah flags at the event would “continue to fly high”. “We stand with Hassan Nasrallah until our last breath,” she said.

Nasrallah’s assassination shocked Lebanon and the wider world when the news broke in September. He had rarely appeared in public since Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel and was always protected by tight security.

He was one of several senior Hezbollah figures killed by Israel in airstrikes between September and the ceasefire agreement signed on Wednesday.

David Wood, a Lebanon analyst with Crisis Group, said the group had been badly damaged by the assassinations, but the sense of celebration in the Hezbollah-dominated areas of Beirut “cannot be dismissed as irrelevant”. honest”.

“The achievements that Hezbollah has achieved – maintaining ground operations against Israel, ensuring that tens of thousands of Israelis cannot return to their homes and severely affecting the Israeli economy, I do not think those achievements are nothing, and I think many of its supporters will see an element of victory in it.”

Additional reporting by Joanna Mazjoub.