ADLOUN, Lebanon — Hundreds of people brandishing
Palestinian flags and the yellow colors of Hezbollah gathered in south Lebanon
on Saturday for the funeral of a Lebanese protester killed by Israeli occupation
forces a day earlier.
اضافة اعلان
Mohamad Kassem Tahan, a member of the Iran-backed
Hezbollah movement, had been protesting at the Lebanese border against Israel’s latest
assault on the
Gaza Strip when he was hit by Israeli shellfire.
That came after a number of young demonstrators had tried to
cross into the northern Israeli border town of Metulla, according to Lebanese
state media.
On Saturday, Tahan's hometown of Adloun held a funeral that
coincided with the anniversary of the Nakba — the "catastrophe" of
the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during Israel's
creation in 1948.
Hezbollah fighters in military fatigues carried the 21-year-old's
coffin, wrapped in the movement's yellow flag, through a crowd of mourners to
the sound of pro-Palestinian chants and sporadic gunfire.
"Death to Israel!" they chanted.
"To Jerusalem we will go, and the martyrs will be in
the millions!"
Hezbollah, a key enemy of Israel, had declared Tahan a
"martyr" on Friday and Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned a
"crime committed by Israeli forces".
Speaking to AFP at the funeral, Tahan's friend Karim called
him "a very loving young man."
"He was loved in Adloun. He used to help everyone, even
if he was busy," the 17-year-old said.
Beside him, a group of Tahan's friends cried on a sofa,
while outside, copies of his portrait lined roads leading to the funeral venue.
The funeral came as dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators
gathered along the southern frontier to commemorate the Nakba and denounce
Israeli violence in Gaza and Jerusalem.
Brandishing flags and wearing checkered Palestinian scarves,
they gathered at several locations including the Lebanese border towns of
Maroun Al-Ras and Adaisseh, according to AFP correspondents in the area.
They were surrounded by Lebanese soldiers who had erected
checkpoints and blocked roads leading up to the frontier to avoid any
escalation, according to state media.
The ANI state news agency said Palestinian protesters had
clashed with security forces blocking their way to the border in the Marjayoun
area.
Protesters in the Kfar Kela district near the border climbed
a separation wall and hung a Hezbollah and a Palestinian flag from a
watchtower, an AFP correspondent said. He also saw them throwing rocks at the
wall, and heard gunfire from the Israeli side.
Ahead of Saturday's protest, an Israeli army spokesperson
had warned Lebanon against allowing "rioters" to approach the
frontier.
His statement came as the Israeli army claimed it foiled an
overnight attempt by a group of Lebanese infiltrators to cross the border near
the town of Metulla.
The army said the infiltrators had planted objects believed
to be explosives before fleeing back into Lebanon under Israeli fire.
Earlier on Thursday, three rockets were fired from southern
Lebanon near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh toward Israel, a
Lebanese military source said.
Israel's army said the rockets had landed in the sea.
A source close to Hezbollah said the Shiite group had no
link to that incident.
Israel occupied much of southern Lebanon from its 1982
invasion until its withdrawal in 2000, seen as a victory for Hezbollah's
"resistance".
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