Shiite Muslims Wednesday in Lebanon and Iraq commemorated Ashoura, marking the 7th-century death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, that gave birth to their faith, while paying tribute to Palestinians as the Israel-Hamas war entered its 10th month and tensions heightened between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.
The rift between Islam's two main sects deepened after Sunnis killed Imam Hussein in battle in the Iraqi city of Karbala, south of Baghdad. It continues to this day to play a key role in shaping the identity of Shiites, who represent over 10% of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims.
In the Shiite community, Ashoura is viewed as a symbol of struggle against injustice and tyranny. Participants usually wear black and set up black funeral tents, a sign of mourning, while carrying red flags that represent Hussein's blood. Clerics recount the story of his death as Shiite Muslims cry and beat their chests.
In the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, youth scouts held portraits of the militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr who has been missing since 1978. Thousands attended the procession which paid tribute to hundreds of Hezbollah militants killed in monthslong clashes with the Israeli military in southern Lebanon, many waving the group’s yellow flags.
Nasrallah previously said that Hezbollah wouldn't hold Ashoura processions in southern Lebanon because of the ongoing clashes.
After the outbreak of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, following Hamas' surprise attack, Hezbollah — an ally of the Palestinian militant group — launched attacks against Israel, killing 17 soldiers and 13 civilians in the last 10 months. Israeli airstrikes on south Lebanon have killed over 450 people. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the tense Lebanon-Israel border have since been displaced.
In a televised address to commemorate Ashoura Wednesday, Nasrallah warned the Israeli military against targeting civilians in Lebanon, saying the group will target new Israeli towns and villages otherwise.
“If your tanks came to Lebanon and southern Lebanon ... you won't have any left.”
In Iraq, thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims commemorated Ashoura in Karbala at Hussein’s shrine, the largest Islamic gathering except for the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Iraqis often chant against rampant corruption, but this year, they also held Palestinian flags in support and chanted in support of Hezbollah.
Some beat their backs bloody with chains and knives in ritual bloodletting known as “tatbir,” meant to recreate the blood flowing from the slain Hussein, a practice that has become debated among Shiite clerics in recent decades.
The leader of one of the militias, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, said in a statement Hussein’s battle in Karbala is still ongoing to this day as they fight Israel and the United States. Abu Alaa al-Walae said, referred to an alliance of Iran, Hezbollah, and other Tehran-backed groups as “the camp that champions the rights of Hussein."
Iraqi security forces were on high alert for potential attacks. Since the war in Gaza erupted, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, calling themselves the Islamic Resistance, have claimed attacks on U.S. military bases and positions in Iraq and in eastern Syria, demanding an end to the war and for American troops to leave both countries.
Ashoura this year also witnessed a rare attack against Shiites commemorating the occasion Monday night in Oman that killed six people and wounded 30. The extremist Islamic State group claimed the attack without providing clear evidence. The group's Aamaq news agency released a video allegedly showing the three attackers opening fire at worshipers at a Shiite mosque in the capital Muscat, a shocking event in the peaceful Sultanate.
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Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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