Two years after the death of Nasrallah, his face is omnipresent in the south of Beirut

Two years after the death of Hassan Nasrallah, his face is still everywhere in Dahieh, the vast southern suburb of Beirut, which for decades was the main showcase of Hezbollah's power. On the walls, in the shops, on the posters remembering the dead leaders. But the city that Nasrallah left behind is no longer the same.Nasrallah died on September 27, 2024, in an Israeli bombardment on Haret Hreik, in the heart of Dahieh. For more than three decades, he had led Hezbollah and had turned the movement into much more than an armed organization. Under his leadership, the party built an extensive network of institutions, schools, clinics, media outlets, and social services, in addition to a powerful military and political structure.Dahieh was the natural setting for this power. But reducing it to a "Hezbollah bastion" is an understatement. It is a densely populated part of Beirut that grew from ancient villages, fields, and informal settlements to become a huge urban extension of the capital. A Shiite majority lives there, but also other communities. And its streets physically blend with other neighborhoods of Beirut.It is enough to travel a few kilometers for the city to change. In Gemmayzeh or Mar Mikhael, restaurants, bars, galleries, and terraces project an image of a cosmopolitan Beirut. In these neighborhoods, other urban codes and a different political history predominate. In Hamra, universities, hotels, offices, and shops are concentrated. In Dahieh, on the other hand, Hezbollah built for years a much more visible and daily presence. It was not just a party that was voted for. It was part of the life of the neighborhood.The 2024 war broke a good part of this landscape. And the 2026 one has done it again. In March, the southern periphery of Beirut, once again, emptied out. Closed shops, deserted streets and families displaced to other areas of the capital. Some residents returned during the day to check the state of their homes, collect belongings or feed their pets. At the Camille Chamoun stadium, the same setting that months earlier had hosted the massive funeral of Nasrallah, tents were set up for displaced families.The image summarizes well to what extent Hezbollah's territory has changed. The organization survived the death of a large part of its leadership, including that of Nasrallah and his designated successor, Hashem Safieddine. Naim Qassem assumed leadership in October 2024 and Hezbollah began to reorganize. There is no longer the charismatic leader who for decades concentrated much of the movement's identity. There is a more battered and more decentralized structure, and a different relationship with its regional environment.But the loss of power does not mean the disappearance of its social base. In March of this year, when Dahieh was being bombed again, some residents continued to say that they supported Hezbollah and that they would return to their neighborhoods. At the same time, others expressed something that a few years ago was much more difficult to hear publicly: weariness at the price of wars and questions about the role of Hezbollah and its disarmament.The burial and the cult of a symbol

Perhaps that is why Nasrallah's anniversary continues to be of great importance to the movement. His death has not closed an era; it has become one of its main symbols. Due to the war, the funeral had to wait. Nasrallah was initially buried provisionally and when conditions allowed it, on February 23, 2025, almost five months after his assassination, the great farewell arrived. Hundreds of thousands of people went to the sports complex to pay tribute to him and then accompanied the funeral procession to his mausoleum in Dahieh.That day, the stadium stands were filled with yellow flags and portraits of Nasrallah. Delegations from Iran, Iraq, and Yemen attended, and thousands of people followed the ceremony from outside the Sports City. Afterwards, the crowd accompanied the coffin to the place where he was finally buried.In September 2025, his followers gathered again for the first anniversary of his death, this time around his mausoleum in Dahieh. Days earlier, Hezbollah had also brought his image to the center of Beirut. His portraits and those of Hashem Safieddine were projected onto the Raouché rock, in a ceremony that sparked criticism and a dispute with the capital's authorities.And this Sunday, two years after his martyrdom, they will gather again to remember it. Nasrallah's image remains present on the streets of Dahieh. But around this face, the movement he built, the neighborhood that for decades symbolized his power, and Beirut itself have changed.