Hezbollah supporters gather to mourn the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the southern Suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on March 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mourn Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday (March 1, 2026), chanting “death to America, death to Israel” while crying over the killed figure.
“God is one, and Khamenei is the leader,” they chanted in unison, wearing black and waving Hezbollah and Iranian flags.
U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran: Follow LIVE updates on March 1, 2026
Khamenei was killed when the United States and Israel began launching waves of strikes against Iran on Saturday (February 28, 2026), sparking swift retaliation by the Islamic republic.
U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to continue striking Iran “as long as necessary”, while repeatedly urging Iranians to rise up and overthrow their government.
In a statement on Sunday (March 1, 2026), Iran-backed Hezbollah’s chief, Naim Qassem, said the assassination of Khamenei and other Iranian officials was “the height of crime”.
“We will undertake our duty of confronting the aggression,” Qassem said, adding that his movement would not leave “the field of honour and resistance”.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, mourners lifted up pictures of the killed Iranian leader.
“His death is very painful, it is a tragedy,” said Zainab al-Moussawi, a 23-year-old teacher.
“It felt just like the martyrdom of the Sayyed,” she added, referring to Israel’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah, then the leader of Hezbollah, in 2024.
Sitting in the front row, mourner Hassan Jaber said: “I ask Sheikh Naim (Qassem) to go to war.”
Hezbollah has so far not taken action since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Saturday (February 28, 2026).
It called on mosques to recite the Koran and organise mourning ceremonies to mark the death of Khamenei, both in the Beirut suburbs and other areas of Lebanon where the group wields influence.
However, in politically-divided Lebanon, Khamenei was not supported by everyone.
“He was always threatening… Arab countries, and had proxies everywhere,” said Hassan Harouq, a 44-year-old nurse in Beirut, who told AFP he just wants the country to be “stable, and for it to make peace with the region”.
“It is time for Lebanon to be on the right path again… and be the Switzerland of the East. The Lebanese people are tired.”
Lebanese authorities fear that Hezbollah might intervene to support Iran in this conflict.
The country is still struggling to recover from a year-long war between Hezbollah and Israel that ended with a November 2024 ceasefire, although Israel continues to strike targets it says are linked to Hezbollah.
President Joseph Aoun, following an emergency meeting of the country’s Higher Defence Council, said on Sunday (March 1, 2026) that “the decision of war and peace rests solely with the Lebanese state”.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday (February 28, 2026) rejected the prospect of Hezbollah “dragging” the country into war.
Published – March 01, 2026 10:53 pm IST
