(25 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 25 September 2025
1. Various of Raouche rock in the sea, illuminated with the Lebanese flag and former Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah
2. Various of boats and jet skis at sea
3. Various of Hezbollah supporters gathering holding Hezbollah flags
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Em Hadi, Hezbollah supporter:
“We tell the Sayyed (referring to Nasrallah) that we are keeping the promise! We are keeping the promise! We are keeping the promise! No surrender of weapons! Our lives will be taken before giving (away) our weapons! Other than this ,the weapon remains to the Master of ages (referring to Shiite Imam Mahdi)."
5. Various of Hezbollah supporters gathering holding Hezbollah flags
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Maryam Jawad, Hezbollah supporter:
“This day is a historic day for all of Lebanon ,for the soil and people of the south, for the massacre of Bint Jbeil, for the twins who became martyrs without doing anything wrong, without harming anyone. What is the state doing to us? We are the state. This is the state!"
7. Various of Hezbollah supporters waving flags, flares and chanting
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered at a scenic overlook on Beirut’s coast Thursday and projected images of the group’s former longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and his successor, Hashem Safieddine, on the iconic arched Raouche rock to commemorate their deaths in Israeli airstrikes nearly a year ago.
The move came despite an apparent attempt by Lebanon’s Prime Minister to halt the planned light show.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued a circular earlier this week pointing to "the recent recurrence of the exploitation of national monuments for propaganda purposes and to hold activities in which partisan and political slogans are raised."
He directed public bodies 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 and permits from the relevant authorities."
A Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly said the organizers of the demonstration had applied for and received permission to hold a gathering at the Raouche overlook, which is a popular tourist site, but not to block the street or project images on the rock.
The event was a show of force by Hezbollah, which suffered serious blows in last year’s war with Israel and has been under domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal since then.
Hezbollah supporter Em Hadi said that “we tell the Sayyed (referring to Nasrallah) that we are keeping the promise! We are keeping the promise! We are keeping the promise! No surrender of weapons!"
Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the militant group and political party, was killed during last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war in a series of massive Israeli strikes on a site in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024 that destroyed an entire block under which Nasrallah was meeting with an Iranian general and some of his top military commanders.
Days later, Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Safieddine, was killed in another series of airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
It ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November, but Israel has continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes in Lebanon, which it says aim at precenting Hezbollah from regrouping.
AP Video by Fadi Tawil, Mahammad Aounti
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