Women in black screamed and toddlers sobbed uncontrollably in southern Lebanon as families buried 13 Lebanese state security officers killed in an Israeli airstrike, with grief and outrage intensifying just as Lebanon and Israel prepare to begin direct talks in the United States for the first time in decades. The funerals on Saturday unfolded in Sidon and around the hill overlooking Haret Saida in neighboring Nabatiyeh, where mourners gathered after the Friday strike hit the state security headquarters in Nabatiyeh.
In Sidon, mourners described the deaths as a failure of protection by the state, a message that echoed through public anger in recent days. “We just want protection,” said Adam Tarhini, a 20-year-old computer science student, whose father, Hassan Tarhini, was among the officers killed in Friday’s attack. He asked, “Where is the state?” as grief turned to confrontation.
The AP reported that similar funeral scenes have played out repeatedly across Lebanon since Israel intensified attacks that it says target Iran-backed Hezbollah infrastructure and militants. The Israel-Hezbollah war, described as raging in the shadow of the larger U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, has already killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and wounded thousands more, according to the report.
Friday’s attack struck particularly hard because it killed so many state security personnel at once, shortly after 14 officers returned from what the report described as their last mission: transferring detainees from the southern town of Nabatiyeh to a safer facility in the coastal city of Sidon. One surviving officer was being treated for severe burns, the report said, and among those killed was 25-year-old Khalil al-Miqdad, whose wedding was three days earlier. His bride, Amani, clutched a smiling photo from the ceremony as crowds mourned, saying, “They killed Khalil. They killed my love,” according to the AP.
Israel said in a response to a request for comment that it struck Hezbollah militant infrastructure in Nabatiyeh on Friday and was “aware of reports regarding harm to Lebanese security personnel.” The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident. Families, meanwhile, buried their dead in temporary graves as displaced residents described being too frightened to bury them in their home villages while Israeli forces pushed deeper into Lebanese territory.
The funerals also highlighted the strain around the upcoming negotiations. Lebanon and Israel, which do not maintain diplomatic relations, are preparing for direct talks in Washington next week, and the prospect of the talks has already drawn anti-government protesters into the streets. The report said the protests have added pressure on Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who has demanded a truce as a condition for negotiations.
Salam said Saturday he postponed his planned trip to Washington, citing “the current internal situation,” and the AP reported that his decision to remain in Beirut to “preserve the security and unity of the Lebanese people” sharpened the spotlight on the government’s challenge: halting Israeli attacks without directly confronting forces that are far stronger than the state. While the report said the first round is expected to be at the ambassadorial level, protesters and mourners appeared skeptical that the talks would quickly translate into safety.
Israel’s position on the talks also runs up against Lebanese expectations shaped by recent strikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the negotiations in Washington “have nothing to do with a ceasefire” and will focus on disarmament of Hezbollah. “We want to achieve complete dismantlement of Hezbollah’s weapons, and a serious and true peace agreement,” Netanyahu said, according to the AP. Local authorities reported that the pitch has been difficult for many in Lebanon to accept after Israeli strikes killed dozens in the hours before Netanyahu spoke.
Analysts cited by the AP said the war dynamic is also reinforcing Hezbollah’s message. Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the war has “once again given Hezbollah and its supporters the ammunition they need to say that they are, in fact, resisting Israel.” She added that the moment has “added to that an element of domestic tension and kind of an underlying threat of civil unrest.”
The report described how anger was not confined to funerals. In Beirut, protesters set fire to portraits of the prime minister, and Ali Akbar Velayati, a top Iranian official, warned on social media against what he described as the dangers of “ignoring the unparalleled role” of Hezbollah’s armed wing. In Sidon, Abbas Saleh, a 26-year-old rescue worker from Nabitiyeh who helped bury medics killed by Israel last month, said, “No one wants negotiations with people who killed our friends, our colleagues, our family.” He said the Israeli army was being “held back by people who are defending the land,” meaning Hezbollah.