On Thursday, September 25, 2025, thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered at the famous Raouche sea rock in Beirut to remember the first anniversary of the deaths of their former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and his successor, Hashem Safieddine. The extremist gang put on a light show in honor of the two dead commanders, projecting their pictures onto the national landmark.
The move was defiant, even though it seemed that Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, was trying to block the planned light show and reestablish the state’s control over national symbols.
Disobeying Government Orders
Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Salam sent out a memo to stop the “use of national monuments for propaganda purposes.” The circular told public organizations to “strictly prohibit the use of public land and sea areas, archaeological and tourist landmarks, or those that bear a unifying national symbolism before obtaining the necessary licenses.”
Permit Violation: Salam later posted on X that the governor of Beirut had given permission for a broad assembly, but it was “clearly stated that the Raouche rocks shall not be illuminated at all.”
The Prime Minister said in an official response that the episode was “negatively impacting (Hezbollah’s) credibility in dealing with the logic of the state and its institutions.” He asked the ministers of defense, justice, and the interior to take “appropriate steps,” such as arresting the people who did it and sending them for inquiry.
Hezbollah’s Position: A Hezbollah representative said that the organizers had merely asked for permission to hold a gathering. Since it wasn’t obvious which agency had the power to allow the light show on the rock, they thought it was protected by Lebanon’s constitution’s “freedom of expression.”
The Background of the Killings
The ceremony happened over a year after the terrible Israeli airstrikes that murdered the top Hezbollah leaders during a full-on conflict with Israel in September 2024.
Death of Hassan Nasrallah: On September 27, 2024, a series of huge Israeli strikes on a place in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Nasrallah, the group’s longtime leader. Reports say that he was meeting with an Iranian general and high-ranking military leaders when the attack devastated a whole city block.
Death of Hashem Safieddine: A few days later, Hashem Safieddine, who took over for Nasrallah, was murdered in another round of bombings on the same spot.
The Bigger War and Political Pressure
The Shiite militant organization put on a big show of force with the light show. Since the end of the full-scale confrontation with Israel, they have been under a lot of pressure at home and abroad to disarm.
Support Front for Hamas: The battle started when Hezbollah started firing rockets over the border as a “support front” for Hamas and Palestinians after the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In September 2024, the small-scale battle turned into a full-blown war. A truce brokered by the U.S. ended the war in November.
Disarmament Stalemate: The Lebanese government has promised to work on disarming Hezbollah, but authorities are hesitant to employ the army to do so because they don’t want to start a civil war. Hezbollah leaders have said that they won’t talk about giving up their weapons until Israel stops its attacks and pulls out from important border areas it is occupying in southern Lebanon.