BEIRUT (Reuters) -Hundreds gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday to mourn Hezbollah’s top military commander Haytham Ali Tabtabai and four other fighters from the Lebanese group killed in an Israeli strike on the city’s outskirts the previous day.

The targeted assassination by Israel – a type of operation that had become rarer since a ceasefire was agreed last year – came a day after Lebanon marked its Independence Day and deepened fears of a renewed Israeli escalation.

As the mass funeral snaked its way through neighbourhoods in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs on Monday, chants rang out against Israel and the United States. Both countries have been pressuring Lebanon to move faster to disarm Hezbollah, in line with the 2024 ceasefire agreement.

“We will not leave our

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