BEIRUT (Dispatches) -- Hundreds of thousands of people here Sunday paid their last respects to Hezbollah’s late leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in an Israeli attack in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital last September.
The public funeral at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium kicked off with a speech by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei that was read out at the funeral.
“Let the enemy be aware that resistance against usurpation, oppression, and arrogance will never end and will continue until the ultimate goal is reached, by the will of God,” the Leader said in his message.
The Leader described Nasrallah as the leading commander of the resistance in the region, saying he is now at the “height of honor.”
Nasrallah’s “spirit and path will shine more gloriously each day, illuminating the way for his followers”, Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Also, the good name and radiant countenance of Safieddine, a close companion and inseparable part of the resistance’s leadership in Lebanon, is a “shining star in this region’s history”, the Leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei wished God’s grace and His righteous servants would be upon the two honorable figures and on other courageous, self-sacrificing fighters, who have recently attained martyrdom and upon all the martyrs of Islam.
The Leader also sent a special greeting to the Lebanese children and the valiant youths.
Then, the decorated coffins of Nasrallah and his heir apparent Hashem Safieddine – assassinated in another Israeli air attack a week later, were slowly driven into the stadium. Both coffins were draped with yellow clothes – the color of the Hezbollah resistance movement.  
At the sight of the coffins, the crowd erupted in cheers and then followed the journey into the stadium in silence.
In a televised speech, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said the movement would keep following the path of Nasrallah.
“We will uphold trust and walk on this path, we will uphold your will,” Qassem said referring to Nasrallah, adding: “You are still with us: your… path and struggle live within us” and “I am loyal to the legacy Nasrallah”.
Sheikh Qassem stated that “the resistance is still present and strong in numbers and weapons, and the inevitable victory is coming.”
He said “Israel must withdraw from the areas it still occupies” in southern Lebanon, referring to five strategic border points where Israeli forces remain.
“We won’t allow America to control our country,” he said. “Israel will not take with politics what they did not take in the war.”
Organizers had installed thousands of extra seats on the stadium’s pitch and many more outside, where mourners were able to follow the ceremony on a giant screen.  
Hezbollah official Ali Daamoush told reporters that about 800 personalities from 65 countries attended the funeral in addition to thousands of individuals 
and activists who came from around the world.
Nasrallah, the face of Hezbollah for more than three decades, and Safieddine had temporarily been buried in secret locations over fears their funerals could be targeted by Israeli forces.
Nasrallah was later buried in a piece of land near the airport road in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Safieddine was laid to rest in his hometown of Deir Qanoun en-Nahr in southern Lebanon.
Nasrallah was martyred after Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the resistance group’s main operations room in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital. 
He was one of Hezbollah’s founders and led it for more than 30 years, enjoying wide influence among the “axis of resistance” that also included Iraqi, Yemeni and Palestinian factions.
Nasrallah also became an icon in other parts of the Arab world after Hezbollah fought Israel in a monthlong war in 2006. 
A Lebanese official estimated the crowd size at 450,000.
“This massive crowd confirms that Hezbollah is still the most popular party at the Lebanese level, and as a result, all the talk that Hezbollah is weak or degraded is out of place,” said Ali Fayyad, a lawmaker with the group’s political wing, who attended the funeral.
Sahar al-Attar, a mourner who traveled from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for the funeral said, “We would have come even under bullets” to attend Nasrallah’s burial.
Israeli planes flew at low altitude over Beirut during the funeral ceremony. The crowd chanted: “Death to Israel” and “At your service, Nasrallah.”
“The hostile warplanes flew at low altitude over the skies of Beirut and its suburbs,” the National News Agency said, hours after it reported Israeli air attacks in the area between Qleileh and Sammaaiyah in south Lebanon’s Tyre district.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Lebanon since November 27, ending months of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah that escalated into a full-scale conflict in September.
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26, but the deadline was extended to February 18 after the Zionist regime refused to comply.
The Israeli army withdrew from southern Lebanese towns on Tuesday, but maintains a military presence at five border outposts. 
As the coffins were paraded before the huge crowd, men riding on the platforms with them tossed flowers. Some in the crowd threw clothing articles in the hope they would come in contact with the coffins and bless them.
Outside of the stadium, giant screens were placed along the road leading to the airport, titling the funeral: “We are committed to the covenant.”
The funeral also drew non-official participants from outside of Lebanon, including some from Western countries.
Irish activist Tara O’Grady waved the flag of her country and said that she came to Beirut “to stand with the people of Lebanon and their resistance against the Zionist regime who are brutally continuing to bomb the south of Lebanon.” She likened Nasrallah to Irish early-20th century revolutionary Michael Collins.