On Sunday, Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s current leader, announced that the funeral for the group’s former head, Hassan Nasrallah, will take place on February 23, as reported by AFP.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27. After his death, Qassem, who had served as Nasrallah’s deputy, was appointed as Hezbollah’s new leader following the death of Hashem Safieddine, who was originally slated to succeed Nasrallah, also in an Israeli attack.
Qassem explained that the funeral had been delayed due to security concerns, which made it impossible to hold the ceremony during the two months of intense warfare that concluded on November 27. However, Hezbollah has now decided to arrange “on February 23 a grand… public funeral” for Nasrallah, he said in a televised statement.
“We hope that it will be a grand funeral procession befitting this great personality,” Qassem remarked.
In his speech, Qassem also confirmed for the first time that Safieddine had been selected to take over Nasrallah’s position as the group’s leader before his death in an Israeli strike in October.
Safieddine will be honored as “Secretary-General” or Hezbollah’s leader because “we had… elected His Eminence Sayyed Hashem as Secretary-General… but he was martyred on October 3, a day or two before the announcement,” Qassem disclosed, according to AFP.
Both Nasrallah and Safieddine’s funerals will be held on the same day. Nasrallah will be laid to rest on the outskirts of Beirut “in a plot of land we chose between the old and new airport roads,” while Safieddine will be buried in his native Deir Qanun in southern Lebanon, Qassem explained.
{Matzav.com}