BEIRUT, Lebanon: As Hezbollah leaders threatened to retaliate against Israel by assassinating its top commanders, thousands of people in Beirut gathered to watch a spectacular dance performance that was a stark reflection of Lebanon's deep divisions.
In the southern suburbs of the capital, a stronghold of Hezbollah, tens of thousands of women and men dressed in black and military uniforms joined a funeral procession for slain commander Fouad Shukr on Thursday.
Across Beirut's waterfront, nearly 8,000 people turned out that evening to watch a spectacular dance performance by the Mayyas, winners of the 2022 television competition “America's Got Talent.”
“I am sorry that people are dying in southern Lebanon and Gaza, but resistance is not just about carrying guns and fighting,” said Olga Farhat, 45.
“Happiness, art and celebrating life are forms of resistance,” the human rights activist told AFP.
Dance performances were staged amid fireworks just hours after Hezbollah buried Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern outskirts of the city on Tuesday.
The performance, titled “Qumi,” which means “Rising” in Arabic, is a tribute to Lebanon’s capital, which has endured decades of conflict, turmoil and economic crisis.
“There is a division in the country between groups of people who are not interested in the war and feel that … Hezbollah wants to impose a common identity on them, while another group is fighting,” Farhat said.
“I understand both perspectives, but we are tired of war and crisis. We want to enjoy life.”
In the southern suburbs, thousands of Hezbollah supporters chanted “Death to the United States” and “Death to Israel.”
Dozens of Mayan dancers perform a war salute in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has waged near-daily border attacks on the Israeli army since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7.
“I grew up during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) and I was raised to believe in the Palestinian cause,” Farhat said.
“But today I say, ‘Lebanon first.’”
The attack that killed Shukr and an Iranian military adviser also killed three women and two young siblings, officials said.
In a video shared online, their grieving mother says their lives were “sacrificed for you, Sayed (Hezbollah chief 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 from the southern suburbs.
Cross-border violence since October has killed at least 542 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also 114 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The Israeli military said 47 people were killed, including those in the annexed Golan Heights.
In June, Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah in Lebanon's parliament, who lost his son in border clashes, criticized Lebanese people “who want to go to nightclubs… beaches and enjoy life” as the war rages in the south.
This week, independent MP Mark Daou angered Hezbollah supporters by posting a photo of a performance on Thursday night with the comment: “The strongest response to Israel is a culture of life and beauty.”
Daou, who was elected after massive protests against political leaders responsible for plunging the country into an economic crisis, told AFP he refused to “turn Lebanon into a battlefield”.
Many politicians, particularly from Lebanon's Christian community, have criticized Hezbollah for risking war with Israel.
“The bigger the tragedy, the bigger the divisions in Lebanon,” said peacebuilding expert Sonia Nakad.
In Lebanon, power is shared according to sectarian quotas, with communities so divided over the country's past that events after 1943 are left out of official history books.
Each side “wants the other to be an exact copy of themselves so they can coexist, while at the same time they are opposites in every way,” she said.
“Lebanese people will not stop using violence against each other, no matter how severe the conflict is,” she said.
International airlines have suspended or canceled flights to Beirut, but many Lebanese continue to flock there, although some have cut their holidays short.
Rabab Abu Hamdan says she plans to return to the Persian Gulf after feeling “very stressed in the last few days”
“Despite the difficult circumstances, Lebanon remains the best holiday destination,” she said.
