After the death of Hassan Nasrallah, scenes of jubilation filmed in north-west Syria

The death of the leader of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, killed by a massive strike by the Israeli army on September 27 in the southern suburbs of Beirut, was received with gravity by his supporters. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia, Iraq and Syria and several actors in Lebanese political life condemned this attack, while the Sunni countries of the region remained mostly discreet, as reported by Reuters agency.

Syria declares three days of mourning “for the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah”. But outside official channels, scenes of jubilation accompanied the announcement of the death of the Hezbollah leader mainly in the Idlib region, located in the northwest of the country, and under the control of the jihadist and Sunni rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

From 2011, Hezbollah was heavily involved alongside the Syrian army in its fight against the armed opposition, describing the revolution against the regime as “conspiracy to destroy the alliance with Assad against Israel”. Hezbollah fighters have participated in numerous massacres. Hence the scenes of rejoicing in recent days, upon the announcement of the death of Hassan Nasrallah.

CheckNews was able to geolocate some of these party images, of which there is no occurrence before September 27, which suggests that they are indeed linked to the death of the leader of the movement.

In two videos, a man is seen handing out sweets in front of a roundabout in the town of Azaz, located in northwest Syria, near the Turkish border, and a man is seen waving the green white black flag with three red stars, which is the symbol of the Syrian revolution. We hear a man screaming “Congratulations”.

The independent Syrian media Levant 24, hostile to Bashar Al-Assad and Hezbollah, also relayed scenes of joy in Idlib, still in the northwest of the country. CheckNews was able to confirm that these images take place in this city thanks to the names of certain businesses present in these images. There we find men distributing pastries, flags of the Syrian revolution or shooting in the air to celebrate the death of Hassan Nasrallah.

A Levant 24 reporter also filmed himself on Clock Square, in downtown Idlib, in the middle of the crowd who came to celebrate the death of the Hezbollah leader. “These people have the right to be happy, they have the right to express their joy after the rumors circulating about the death of the leader of Hezbollah, the criminal Hassan Nasrallah. These are the people who were displaced, who lost their children because of this criminal’s party. reports the journalist who ensures that the scene took place at 2 a.m. after the September 27 strike.

Before Nasrallah’s death, and in reaction to the beeper attacks carried out by Israel which had caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries in the ranks of Hezbollah, Levant 24 had already broadcast a visual recalling Hezbollah’s involvement with the regime Baathist to crush the Syrian revolution.

Drawing on work carried out by the BBC and the Anadolu Agency, as well as the Syrian British Consortium and the humanitarian group Reliefweb, the map shows massacres committed by Hezbollah in eight locations in Syria.

The joy of seeing Hassan Nasrallah finally eliminated extended beyond the Syrian community living in the northwest of the country, under rebel control. In Germany, YouTuber and refugee Firas Alshater, one of the faces of the Syrian diaspora, also shared with his subscribers a list of eight massacres involving the Shiite movement. He then denounces “the criminal role of Hezbollah in the military intervention in Syria since 2011” and in particular “in military operations which specifically targeted women, children and civilians and which led to atrocious massacres, in violation of all principles of humanity and international humanitarian law. Hezbollah carried out summary executions, sexual assaults and mistreatment of corpses, regardless of age or gender. Most of their crimes were documented by their own members and broadcast on the Internet in order to boast of their skills..

The involvement of the Shiite group Hezbollah in the war in Syria, against Syrian rebel groups, has been established by several research groups such as the Foundation for Strategic Research or l’Institute for the Study of WarNGOs like Human Rights Watchand recognized in 2013 by Hassan Nasrallah himself.