Beirut, Lebanon – On Friday night, Mariam* was in her apartment with her teenage daughter and her mother when the building began to shake and shake. Agonized screams and the drone of Israeli fighter jets soon followed.
Israel had just launched a major airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as an unknown number of civilians in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon's capital.
Shortly after the attack, Israel asked thousands of civilians to “evacuate” Dahiyeh, claiming they lived near Hezbollah operations centers.
Mariam quickly packed some bags of clothes and fled to central Beirut, where she now sleeps on the steps of a mosque with hundreds of other people displaced from her community.
But although Israel has turned his life upside down, he said nothing compares to the anguish of losing Nasrallah.
“When I first heard the news, I thought it was a lie. I thought, 'This can't be true,'” she told Al Jazeera, fighting back tears. “Nasrallah was our brother and we always felt safe with him. “Now we don't know what our destiny will be.”
A brother, a father
Nasrallah became leader of Hezbollah after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992. Al-Musawi, his wife and their five-year-old son were killed in an airstrike on their home.
Once Nasrallah took power, he quickly began expanding Hezbollah from a rebel movement to one of the most powerful armed groups in the world, as well as a formidable bulwark against Israeli aggression.
Under his leadership, Hezbollah liberated southern Lebanon from the 18-year Israeli occupation, earning him hero status throughout the region.
His charisma and cunning made him one of the most respected (and feared) leaders in the Middle East.
He then became a polarizing figure (in Lebanon and the region) after Hezbollah intervened in Syria's civil war to rescue President Bashar al-Assad from a pro-democracy uprising that quickly escalated into armed conflict. after al-Assad's forces turned their weapons on protesters. , causing the death of hundreds of thousands of people.
Throughout the war, the Syrian government and Hezbollah committed atrocities, according to media reports and human rights groups.
These reports damaged Nasrallah's popularity throughout the region, but his most ardent supporters supported him out of fear that no one else could or would protect Lebanon from Israel.
Many Lebanese Shia Muslims are now mourning a man they call “brother” and even “father” to his people.
In central Beirut, displaced Dahiyeh families described Nasrallah as a “martyr” who gave his life to confront Israel.
“I just want to hear his voice again. He was like a father to us. He was not just a politician,” said Nivine, a Hezbollah supporter and resident of Dahiyeh who has been uprooted by the attacks.
“But we will continue [Nasrallah’s path]. “We will continue to fight to overthrow Israel, which was always their wish,” he told Al Jazeera.
Lack of protection?
With Nasrallah gone and Hezbollah reeling from the loss of dozens of top commanders in recent days, many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fear they have no one to protect them.
“Don't you see all of Israel's crimes? They are bombing and destroying everything, killing women and children. And no Arab or Western country is intervening to stop it,” Nivine said.
But Nivine, like other Dahiyeh residents, believes Hezbollah will ultimately survive Israel's recent blows.
Hassan, 25, spoke matter-of-factly about Nasrallah and the “resistance,” a term that commonly refers to Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned armed groups that oppose Israel and the U.S. role in the region.
“We will continue and the movement will continue. People will be martyred, but [the resistance] will continue,” he told Al Jazeera.
Hassan added that he was particularly upset by Nasrallah's death because it was an important symbol of defiance. In his opinion, Nasrallah was the only world leader who helped the Palestinians in Gaza by opening a “support front” against Israel from southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has said its goal is to ease pressure on Hamas, which is fighting for its survival after launching an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,139 people.
Israel responded by attacking Gaza, killing more than 40,000 people since October.
Nasrallah's decision to support Hamas cost him his life.
“He defended Gaza,” Hassan said with resignation on the steps of a mosque. “I know he died. But now he is in a better place than where we all live.”
Uncertain future
Mohamad, a Syrian citizen who has lived in Lebanon since 2009, said he fled southern Lebanon to Dahiyeh after Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging fire on October 8, 2023.
He said the bustling neighborhood welcomed him, his daughter and his wife to the community shortly after their arrival.
He is also mourning Nasrallah.
“I was shocked when I heard the news. We will remember him as the one who stood up to the Zionists and went to war with Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.
“But now that he is gone, there is fear and uncertainty. We don't know what will happen. Will there be more bombings now in Beirut? Will the situation get worse? Or will it stop? Nobody knows.”
Mariam, who fled with her mother and daughter, expressed the same ambivalence about her life and the fate of Lebanon. Everything she loves has been shattered due to Israel's relentless bombing of Dahiyeh over the past 24 hours, she said.
He is mourning the loss of a neighborhood that encompasses a lifetime of memories, good and bad. He also mourns the loss of several friends, many of whom were killed in Israeli attacks, and others are still missing. But like many people in her community, she said Nasrallah's death is the hardest news to accept.
“We felt safe when he was here with us,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “Now we don't know if we will ever be safe again.”
