Over the past two decades, Lebanese of all political persuasions got used to a familiar routine: whenever a significant national event took place, Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would address them and signal the direction his movement would seek to push the country.
But this weekend, Lebanese woke up with their fragile nation in crisis and without the man who had for years dominated their news feeds and towered over their elected leaders.
“I am in complete shock,” said a tearful May Saad, a social worker, of Nasrallah’s assassination by Israel on Friday. “I don’t agree with Hizbollah’s politics or anything, but he was like a father for the nation . . . even when he did things we didn’t like.”