‘We wanted a reason for people to come back’: Lebanese city marks Ashura after destruction of war

A procession commemorating Ashura in the city of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, on Thursday. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian View image in fullscreen A procession commemorating Ashura in the city of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, on Thursday. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian ‘We wanted a reason for people to come back’: Lebanese city marks Ashura after destruction of war People in Nabatieh mourn the city’s recent dead in religious ceremony held amid empty streets and shattered buildings As the procession wound its way through mounds of rubble, the crowd chanted and beat their chests, their lamentations echoed by the dull thud of shelling in the foothills just beyond the city. “This the tragedy of Karbala, O Imam Hussein, look. This is the tragedy of Karbala,” the crowd cried in the opening procession of Ashura, in the city of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon . The religious ceremony of Ashura mourns the slaying of the holy figure Imam Hussein in the battle of Karbala in 680; today, it is a symbol for Shia Muslims of resistance against oppression. In normal times, the annual commemoration is the pride of Nabatieh, drawing crowds of up to 30,000 people who march through the streets and fill them with a collective cry of grief. This year, the story of Karbala took on a renewed meaning for attenders because of the Hezbollah-Israel war, which killed more than 3,900 people in Lebanon, most of whom were Shia Muslims. Nabatieh was one of the hardest-hit by bombings during the war, and much of it was levelled. On Wednesday, the cries of sorrow were muffled by the mounds of earth and snarled metal that had been cleared from the roads two days earlier. The 200 or so people could not fill the silence that hung over the city, its streets empty and its buildings shattered after 100 days of war. View image in fullscreen Israeli bombings and forced evacuation orders displaced almost all of the city’s population of 80,000. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian Nabatieh was mourning its recent dead on this Ashura, the tears shed by worshippers recounting the war that had displaced most of the city and killed many who did not have the chance to escape. ‘We want to be 100% sure’: war-weary Lebanese greet truce with caution Read more Martyr posters dotted the streets: at the roundabout at the entrance to the neighbouring village of Harouf, a 3-metre poster displayed the faces of 50 young Hezbollah fighters killed in that village alone. “This year Ashura has a special meaning to us. We have lived the battle of Karbala every day during this war,” said Ismail Yaghi, a 50-year-old at the ceremony. As he spoke, he looked over at the posters of young men who had been killed, their faces hung on the walls of the mosque and printed on T-shirts and buttons worn by attenders. “There is sadness in our hearts and a pride at the same time for our martyrs. But we believe that just because someone died, it doesn’t mean that their life has ended. Their eternal life has just begun,” s