Hezbollah marks one year since Nasrallah, Safieddine assassinations

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters gathered at a seaside front in Beirut on Thursday to commemorate a year since the assassination of former leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.

Videos shared online showed hundreds of people gathered at the promenade in the touristic Raouche area, facing the city’s famous Pigeon Rocks landmark, raising yellow Hezbollah flags and pictures of the slain leaders.

Dozens were also seen on jet-skis in the water as part of the event, amid tightened security.

The commemoration has been marred by controversy in recent weeks.

Hezbollah said it planned to illuminate the images of Nasrallah and his would-be successor Safieddine on the rocks, prompting backlash from Hezbollah critics who argue the two men were "divisive" figures in Lebanon, a country where political divisions and sectarianism still run deep.

The Pigeon Rocks – or Raouche Rocks – is one of Lebanon’s most famous landmarks. It is made up of two large natural formations off Beirut’s southwestern coast, rising around 70 meters high. It has often been illuminated during special occasions, both Lebanese and foreign.

The Beirut governor on Wednesday gave permission for the commemoration to go ahead on condition that the light display doesn’t happen, and traffic isn’t disturbed on one of the city’s busiest coastal routes.

Despite this, the organisers still went ahead and projected the slain leaders' images, as well as the Lebanese flag. An installation featuring an outline of Nasrallah and Safieddine’s faces was also used.

The move was considered provocative by many Lebanese, with Hezbollah once again defying state-issued instructions.

The Iran-backed militant group’s arsenal and political conduct have for decades been among the most contentious issues in the troubled nation, which is still reeling from last year’s war with Israel.

Nearly a year of cross-border clashes culminated in two months of all-out war which ended in a US-brokered ceasefire on 27 November.

Israel continues to violate the agreement, saying it is targeting Hezbollah to stop it from rebuilding itself. On Sunday, five people - including three children - were killed in an drone strike in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah came out of the conflict significantly weakened, with its senior command structure eliminated, thousands of its fighters killed and wounded, and a large part of its weapons stockpile decimated.

Around 5,000 people were killed, most of them civilians.

Long-time leader Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike south of Beirut on 27 September, only days after Israel began its widescale aerial campaign on Lebanon.

Nasrallah was long regarded as a charismatic and commanding figure.

Days later, Nasrallah's cousin Safieddine – seen as a hardliner and who was set to lead the group – was killed in another major attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs. His body was reportedly recovered from the rubble weeks later.

The programme of events commemorating Nasrallah and Safieddine’s killings is set to continue until 12 October.