A recent rally in Dearborn, Michigan, featured late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s infamous hand gesture and threat to American troops, echoing an infamous speech where he mocked U.S. forces and warned they would return home “horizontally” in coffins.
Earlier this month, a rally titled “Stand with Lebanon” was held outside the Dearborn Police Department in Michigan. Among the signs carried by protesters, one prominently displayed the distinctive hand gesture of the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, accompanied by the misspelled words, “You will be return horizontaly [sic].”
The placard referenced a notorious speech Nasrallah gave in Lebanon, during which he threatened U.S. military forces stationed in the Middle East.
In that 2020 televised address following the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike, the Lebanese terror leader warned that American soldiers deployed in the region would meet violent ends, stating they would return “in a horizontal position” — a reference to them being shipped back in coffins.
Nasrallah threatened that the American military presence in the Middle East would face severe retaliation, specifically mentioning that attacks on U.S. military bases, troops, and officers would be “fair punishment.”
The U.S. bases, the U.S. warships, every American soldier and officer in our region, our countries, and our lands… The American military killed them and it will be the one to pay the price. That is the equation…. I am telling you that the Americans will leave our region humiliated, defeated, terrorized, and horrified, just as they had left before. The martyrdom-seekers who drove America out of our region in the past are still here and they are many more than they were in the past…. When the coffins of the American soldiers and officers — people who came here in vertical position and return in horizontal position — start arriving in the United States, Trump and his administration will understand that they have lost the region and will lose the elections as well.
The Hezbollah chief’s rhetoric was accompanied by chants of “Death to America!” from the crowd, emphasizing Hezbollah’s longstanding hostility toward the United States.
Furthermore, Al-Mayadeen News, a Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet known for disseminating propaganda and banned in Israel, was allegedly present at the Dearborn rally, with a microphone bearing the channel’s logo spotted during the event.
Al-Mayadeen has been accused of serving the interests of terrorist organizations while promoting anti-Western narratives.
Dearborn, with its large Muslim population, has long been a focal point for anti-U.S. and anti-Israel demonstrations, drawing attention to growing radicalism within the country.
In April, a viral video showed protests in Dearborn where demonstrators were captured chanting, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” during an International Al-Quds Day rally. The video stirred national controversy and intensified scrutiny of pro-Hezbollah activities in the U.S.
The clip showed activists condemning both Israel and America in the harshest of terms, with teacher and activist Tarek Bazzi insisting the chants were only logical.
In response, Steven Stalinsky, director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), told Fox News that the Dearborn rallies have been happening for over 20 years and have become a “hotbed of hate,” where rallies and sermons can be seen “in support for Hamas, Hezbollah, [and] Iran.”
Nasrallah, who served as Secretary-General of Hezbollah since 1992, was a founding member of the Iran-backed Shiite terror group, revered by supporters for leading the organization through conflicts with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah’s terrorism capabilities grew significantly.
Nasrallah was killed last month in a precision airstrike on his Beirut bunker.
Israel has been engaged in ongoing clashes with Hezbollah after the group launched attacks following Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israeli civilians, which left nearly 1,200 dead and more than 240 hostages taken.
Having actively sought to expand its influence beyond the Middle East, Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization by more than a dozen countries and international entities, including major Western nations, members of the European Union, and most Arab League member states, due to its involvement in terrorist activities against American, French, Israeli, and other targets.
Former President Donald Trump has denounced Hezbollah, stating, “No terrorist group other than al-Qaeda has more American blood on its hands.”
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton has called for the elimination of “all of Hezbollah’s leadership” while insisting that the United States “should let Israel win” against Tehran’s key terrorist proxy in the region.
Last month, a memorial service for Nasrallah in Dearborn featured praise for prominent terror figures as well as denunciations of the United States’ “terrorism.”
In a sharp denunciation of U.S. policy, one passionate speech accused American institutions — specifically the White House, Congress, and the Pentagon — of projecting their own “terrorism” onto “the soldiers and saints of the Lord of the universe.”
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
