BEIRUT, Lebanon: Thousands of Beirut residents gathered for a dance festival, putting Lebanon's deep divisions on full display as the Hezbollah leader threatened brutal retaliation for Israel's killing of its top commander.
In the capital's southern suburbs (a Hezbollah stronghold), tens of thousands of black-clad women and military-clad men took part in a funeral procession for slain commander Fuad Shukr on Thursday.
Nearly 8,000 people from across Beirut's coastal city attended a spectacular dance show that evening by the Mayyas troupe, winners of the 2022 “America's Got Talent” television contest.
“It's sad that people are dying in southern Lebanon and Gaza, but resistance is not just about taking up arms and fighting,” said Olga Farhat, 45.
“Celebrating joy, art and life is also a form of resistance,” the human rights activist told AFP.
A dance show kicked off with fireworks hours after Hezbollah buried Shukr, who was killed in an airstrike in Israel's southern suburbs on Tuesday.
The show, titled 'Qumi', which means 'rise' in Arabic, is a tribute to the Lebanese capital, which has endured decades of conflict and upheaval, as well as years of economic crisis.
“There is a division in the country between those who hate the war and those who think Hezbollah is trying to impose its group identity on them, while other groups are fighting,” Farhat said.
“I understand both points of view, but we are tired of war and crisis, and we want to enjoy life.”
In the southern suburbs, thousands of Hezbollah supporters chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Dozens of Mayas dancers across the city performed a moving tribute to war-torn southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli troops crossing the border almost daily since the Gaza war began on October 7.
“I grew up during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) and I grew up believing in the Palestinian cause,” Farhat said.
“But today I want to say, 'Lebanon first.'”
Authorities said three women and two young siblings were killed in the raid that killed Shukr and an Iranian military adviser.
In a video clip circulated online, their bereaved mother said their lives were “a sacrifice for you, Sayyed (Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah).”
“We love life like everyone else… but if Israel drags us into war, it is our duty to die as martyrs,” said Hussein Nasreddin, 36, speaking in the southern suburbs.
At least 542 people have been killed in cross-border violence in Lebanon since October, most of them combatants but also 114 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The Israeli side reported 47 deaths, including in the Golan Heights, which the military annexed.
In June, Mohammad Raad, a Hezbollah bloc representative in the Lebanese parliament who lost his son in border clashes, accused Lebanese people of wanting to “go to nightclubs, to the beach, to enjoy life” as fighting escalated in the south.
This week, independent congressman Mark Dow angered Hezbollah supporters when he posted a photo from the show Thursday night with the comment, “The most powerful response to Israel is a culture of life and beauty.”
“I refuse to turn Lebanon into a battleground,” Dow, who was elected after mass protests against the country's political leadership amid economic crisis, told AFP.
Many politicians, especially those in Lebanon's Christian community, have criticized Hezbollah for risking war with Israel.
“The bigger the tragedy, the bigger the divisions,” said Sonia Nakad, a peacebuilding expert in Lebanon.
In Lebanon, power is distributed along sectarian lines, and divisions between communities over the country's past are so deep that events after 1943 are excluded from official history books.
Each party “wants the other to be an exact replica of themselves in order to coexist, but they are polar opposites in every way,” she said.
“Lebanese people have not yet given up using violence against each other, no matter how deep their differences are,” she said.
Foreign airlines have suspended or cancelled flights to Beirut, but Lebanese migrants are still flocking in droves, some even cutting short their vacations.
Rabab Abu Hamdan said he planned to return to the Gulf after feeling “very stressed” over the past few days.
“Despite the difficult circumstances, Lebanon is still a great holiday destination,” she said.
