KFAR SIR, Lebanon — Lebanese town official Sharif Badreddine begged his youngest son not to leave to fight for Hezbollah against Israel in the country’s south, but as the tearful father buried his child, he did not hide a sense of pride.

In the face of a government push to disarm the terror group, its supporters call on a long-held enmity with Israel, deep religious beliefs and backing from Iran to justify their sons’ sacrifice in the organization’s latest war that has killed thousands in Lebanon.

“Before he left, I told him, ‘Don’t go, the situation is bad,'” Badreddine, 67, told AFP.

But his son Ahmad, who was in his twenties with two children, insisted, leaving his father no choice but to accept his death as a necessary sacrifice for his homeland.

Israel has fought several wars with Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon since the 1970s. The Iranian-backed terror group is bent on the destruction of the Jewish state.

“I am proud of him. He was martyred on the front lines. This is an honor for me,” said the grieving father, who last saw his son six weeks ago. “He was defending me, all of southern Lebanon, and all of Lebanon.”

As the father buried his son alongside 13 others, including two rescuers, in southern Lebanon’s Kfar Sir, a 10-day truce between Israel and Lebanon that began on Friday had brought some calm to the area.

Israel conducted huge strikes across Lebanon, including Kfar Sir, and invaded the south after Hezbollah on March 2 began pummeling northern Israel with rockets and drones in support of its backer Iran, which came under attack from a joint US-Israeli campaign. The fighting has killed more than 2,400 people according to Lebanese authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants.

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