Mourners vow revenge for the mortrydom of Moghnieh

Source: AFP, 14-2-2008
BEIRUT: A death in Damascus provoked defiance in Dahiyeh on Thursday as tens of thousands of mourners vowed retaliation at the funeral of a slain Hizbullah commander in the southern suburbs of Beirut. A somber mood gripped the mourners at the sight of Imad Moghnieh's casket draped in Hizbullah's yellow flag. Inside the Sayyed al-Shuhada complex, Koranic verses were read for the funeral service, which included a written eulogy from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a speech delivered in Farsi by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and a fiery televised message from Hizbullah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
A congregation of thousands, ages 7 to 70, attended the service at the 20,000-seat mosque complex. Occupying all the seats, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, climbing on girders and sitting on scaffolding, they filled the football-pitch-sized corrugated facility to its maximum capacity. Outside the complex, thousands more thronged the streets, waiting to pay their respects to their beloved martyr, Moghnieh.
Moghnieh's coffin was flanked by Lebanese and Hizbullah flags, bouquets of flowers and regimented pallbearers clad in berets, steel toe caps and military fatigues. Images of other martyrs - from the days of Kerbala to the July 2006 war - adorned the wall above the coffin.
A panel of distinguished delegates sat below Moghnieh's coffin, including Mottaki, Hizbullah's second in command Sheikh Naim Qassam, Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil, Nasrallah's political adviser Hussein al-Khalil, senior Hizbullah member Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid and Hizbullah's top official in the South, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk.
Throughout the speeches and stirring music played by a 50-man strong military brass band, the congregation remained mostly solemn, silent and respectful. They occasionally waved flags - mostly those of Hizbullah, but also some Lebanese and one Iranian - and brandished posters of Moghnieh to play to the press photographers or acknowledge the arrival of delegates.
Several members of the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces attended the service in a show of Lebanese solidarity.
But the day undoubtedly belonged to Nasrallah, whose speech seemed to mark the moment that his supporters had been waiting for.
Their inspirational leader did not disappoint the crowds. Speaking to his supporters live in a message broadcast on a 6-meter television screen, the Hizbullah leader transformed the atmosphere in the room in the way that only a truly great orator can.
"We are all your servants, Nasrallah!" the crowd in the packed compound cheered, as they pounded their fists into the air above their heads.
As the Hizbullah chief charged the room with his firebrand rhetoric and proclamations of a strengthened Hizbullah resolve, some of his supporters were moved to tears, visibly weeping as he spoke.
Nasrallah defiantly vowed that there were "tens of thousands" of Moghniehs ready to battle the Jewish state. There appeared to be an element of truth to these words as Moghnieh's coffin was carried out onto Dahiyeh's streets, escorted by an immense throng of thousands who seemed no longer bereaved, but rather enraged.
Chants of, "Death to "Israel"! Death to America!" roared through the Hizbullah stronghold as a dozen pallbearers carried Moghnieh's coffin through the narrow streets of the southern suburbs. The coffin was soon surrounded by a sea of yellow Hizbullah flags, as well as security personnel who successfully prevented the overwrought and excited crowd from descending into pandemonium. "Let's go Hizbullah!" the crowd chanted, "Let's go Hizbullah!"
Mourners who attended the funeral ceremony pledged their readiness to fight "Israel" to the death and die as martyrs.
"We are only waiting for a sign from Hassan Nasrallah to fight "Israel" until death," said Ali Zeidan, 28.
"We are ready to follow the example of Imad Moghnieh and the other martyrs" who fought "Israel", he added.
Zeidan was just one of thousands of Hizbullah supporters who listened intently and reacted passionately to Nasrallah's address.
Another, Hassan, said Nasrallah was never wrong. "I am ready to follow him until I shed the last drop of blood," he added.
"We have lost an extraordinary military chief," said Ali Hamdan as he elbowed his way through the dense crowd milling outside the complex, oblivious to the rain lashing the capital.
For Kamel, 24, Moghnieh was "a pillar of the resistance" against "Israel". "We have not given up. We will continue his struggle," he said.