Lebanese commemorate Ashoura amid rubble, loss and ruin
Ashoura comes as many of the more than one million displaced Lebanese people are trying to return to their villages in southern Lebanon. Cities and towns had held sermons and events in the buildup to the holy day surrounded by buildings reduced to rubble and ruins.
Ashoura, a holy day symbolizing sacrifice and martyrdom, holds special significance for many this year in Iran and Lebanon.
Ashoura commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D. Imam Hussein was killed with his family and companions after refusing to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate.
Ashoura is the holiest day on the Shiite calendar, marked by traditional mourning rituals that include chest-beating, elegies, and lamentations. It is held on the 10th day of the month of Muharram.
Families in the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre who lost relatives fighting with Hezbollah or working as paramedics wept during a sermon on the third day of Muharram. A cleric, who sat between portraits of current Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, compared the struggles the modern-day leaders faced in the war to that of Hussein and his companions in Karbala.
Banners in red and black bearing Hussein's name were hung on every street.
In Beirut's southern suburbs, many flocked to the grave of former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September 2024.
Source: Associated Press
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