BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept 27, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered Saturday at the tomb of the group's former chief, Hassan Nasrallah, to mark the first anniversary of Israel's assassination of their longtime leader.

The Iran-backed group, weakened by a deadly war with Israel last year, has organised a series of commemorative events to mark Nasrallah's death.

Waving the group's yellow banner as well as Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian flags, Hezbollah supporters gathered at the leader's mausoleum, near Beirut airport, while partisan and religious songs blared from loudspeakers, an AFP journalist reported.

The charismatic leader, a major figure in the wider region, was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27, 2024.

Without Nasrallah and with much of its military capability destroyed by Israel, Hezbollah's grip on Lebanese politics has weakened.

The government has gone as far as to order the army to disarm the group, once thought better-equipped than the state.

For many of the supporters gathered for the anniversary, that should not be allowed to happen.

Wisam Hodroj, a 51-year-old working in Iraq, arrived early at the commemorations, where the new leader Naim Qassem was due to speak in the presence of Iranian security chief Ali Larijani.

He said: "What has happened since the last war has only increased our enthusiasm and strength. Today, we have a new cause -- we will not compromise on our weapons, and we will not hand them over."

Nearby, Ali Jaafar, a 21-year-old university student, told AFP: "Handing over the weapons is the dream of the enemies, the internal and external ones -- but it will remain just a dream."

Hezbollah is under intense pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army planning to begin the disarmament in the south.

Lebanon itself is under pressure from the United States and ongoing Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah was the only major armed group allowed to keep its weapons following Lebanon's civil war, because it was fighting continued Israeli occupation of the south.

The group's heartlands are in mainly Shiite southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.

In October 2023, it began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza. Months of exchanges escalated into all-out war in September 2024, before a ceasefire was agreed two months later.