Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on September 27 as Israel ramped up its air attacks on Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
According to religious custom, Nasrallah’s successor Naim Qassem claimed in a televised address on Sunday that “at a time when circumstances were difficult” that the organization had to arrange for him to have a temporary burial.
Hashem Safieddine, another prominent Hezbollah official who was killed in an Israeli airstrike nearly a week after Nasrallah, was the subject of a group’s decision, according to Qassem.
He also confirmed for the first time that Safieddine had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah, but he passed away before the announcement was made. Safieddine would also be buried under the secretary general’s title, according to him.
Safieddine will be buried in his southern Lebanon hometown of Deir Qanoun, according to him, while Nasrallah will be interred on the edge of Beirut, “in a plot of land we chose between the old and new airport roads.”
Hezbollah announced on October 29 that Qassem, the group’s deputy leader, had been elected as its head, after the killings of many of the group’s top military commanders threw the group into disarray.
Hezbollah and Israel’s hostilities were ended by a late November ceasefire, which established a 60-day deadline for his or her withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s withdrawal of its weapons, and the deployment of Lebanese troops there.
That deadline was extended until February 18 last month. Israel has been accused of violating the ceasefire’s terms by refusing to leave Lebanon and continuing to air attack sporadic flights in some areas. Hezbollah is also accused of violating the ceasefire’s terms by Israel.
Source: Aljazeera
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