TENS of thousands of people packed Lebanon’s main sports stadium in Beirut today to attend the funeral of Hezbollah's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air strike.

Nasrallah died after Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the militant group’s main operations room in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital. 

His death was a major blow for the Iran-backed group that the late leader transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.

He was one of the group’s founders and led it for more than 30 years, and was widely respected in the axis of resistance that included Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Palestinian groups.

Sahar al-Attar, a mourner who travelled from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for the funeral said: “We would have come even under bullets” to attend Nasrallah’s burial, she said. “It is an indescribable feeling.”

The funeral day was also for Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on a Beirut suburb a few days later. 

The late Hezbollah leader was due to be laid to rest later Sunday in Beirut while Safieddine will be buried in his home town in southern Lebanon. Both had temporarily been buried in secret locations.

Officials at Nasrallah’s funeral, believed to be Lebanon’s largest in two decades, included Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. 

Israeli jets flew at low altitude over Beirut as Nasrallah’s coffin was paraded into the stadium while his speech following the 2006 war with Israel played. 

The crowd chanted: “Death to Israel” in response.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the low-flying jets “send a clear message: whoever threatens to annihilate Israel and strike Israel — that will be his end.”

In a live televised speech, Hezbollah’s secretary-general Naim Kassem, who was not present at the stadium, said: “The resistance is still present and strong in numbers and weapons, and the inevitable victory is coming.

“Israel must withdraw from the areas it still occupies.”

Hours before and during the funeral, the Israeli military launched a series of strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon.

They said in a statement that it had “conducted a precise intelligence-based strike on a military site containing rocket launchers and weapons in Lebanese territory.”