MAJDAL SELM, Lebanon, July 18, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Hezbollah held a mass funeral 
for dozens of people, most of them fighters killed in the most recent 
fighting with Israel, in southern Lebanon's Majdal Selm on Saturday.

The Iran-backed Shia group, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by 
attacking Israel on March 2, does not reveal the number of fighters it has 
lost.

But it has organised several funerals during the current lull in fighting, 
which followed the June 17 signing of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding.

In the heavily-damaged village, Hezbollah buried 44 people, 39 of them 
fighters and four civilians said to have been killed in Israeli operations, 
and one man who died of natural causes.

An AFP correspondent saw trucks carrying the coffins to the burial site as 
weeping women held portraits of the dead and of Iran's late supreme leader, 
Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February.

Many Lebanese have been unable to bury their loved ones in their home towns 
while the fighting was still raging.

Shia Muslim rites provide for temporary burial when circumstances prevent a 
proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.

"You are invited to participate in the blessed funeral of Majdal Selm's 
martyrs," read an announcement to Hezbollah's supporters, with the names of 
the dead.

A previous announcement widely shared online had 129 names, but the Majdal 
Selm municipality dismissed the figure as "inaccurate and baseless".

The funeral took place as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun headed to Washington 
where he is expected to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump following the 
latest round of Israel-Lebanon talks, which wrapped up earlier this week.

Israel and Lebanon began US-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching 
a peace deal and permanently ending the Israel-Hezbollah war.

On June 26, they reached a framework agreement in Washington under which the 
Israeli military is to withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army 
is to deploy, starting with two "pilot zones".

The agreement is contingent on the disarmament of Iran-backed militant group 
Hezbollah, which has flatly rejected both the deal and the negotiations.