Qassem says Nasrallah funeral to be held on February 23
The funeral for Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed last September in an Israeli strike, will be held on February 23, the group's current chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Sunday.
Qassem also confirmed for the first time that leading official Sayyed Hashem Safieddine had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah before he too was killed in an Israeli raid in October.
The group will hold Safieddine's funeral on the same day.
"After security conditions prevented holding a funeral" during two months of all-out war between the group and Israel that ended on November 27, Hezbollah has decided to hold "on February 23 a grand... public funeral" for Nasrallah, Qassem said in a televised speech.
"We hope that it will be a grand funeral procession befitting this great personality," he said.
Safieddine will be buried "as Secretary-General" or leader of Hezbollah, 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 added.
Nasrallah will be buried 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 hometown of Deir Qanoun in southern Lebanon, he said.
Nasrallah had been temporarily buried elsewhere due to security concerns, he said.
Shiite Muslim rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.
Last October, a source close to the group had told AFP that Nasrallah had been buried in a secret location, for fear Israel would target a large funeral.
Nasrallah led Hezbollah since 1992, and is seen as a transformative leader to the group, which grew from a local militant group into a regional paramilitary force with an influential political presence in Lebanese government.
The deeply religious Safieddine, a cleric with family ties to Nasrallah, had been widely viewed as the most likely candidate for the party's top job.
Safieddine, a member of the group's governing Shura Council, had strong ties to Iran after undergoing religious studies in the Islamic republic's holy city of Qom.
During his speech Sunday, Qassem also pressed Lebanese authorities to pressure Israel to stop ceasefire violations.
The Israeli army missed a January 26 deadline to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon and has since launched strikes there. It now has until February 18 to withdraw.
Israel had made clear it had no intention of meeting the initial deadline, charging that the Lebanese army had not fulfilled its end of the bargain.
The Lebanese authorities have also accused Israel of violating the agreement.
"The Lebanese state is fully responsible for following up, pressuring and trying to prevent as much as it can, through sponsors and international pressure, this violation and this Israeli aggression," Qassem said.
Under the terms of the November 27 ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to deploy in the south as Hezbollah pulls its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.
The militant group is also required to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.
Israeli troops are still present in parts of southern Lebanon. Residents of those villages, many waving Hezbollah flags, have been protesting in those villages and have scuffled with Israeli troops, which Qassem praised.
“The South says that there is no possibility for Israel to remain in it, there is no possibility for Israel to remain an occupier, and let everyone know that the sacrifices, no matter how great, will ultimately lead to the liberation of the land and the exit of Israel,” said Qassem.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli forces opened fire to disperse protesters in the southern villages of Yaroun and Kfar Kila. The Lebanese Health Ministry did not announce any casualties.
Last week, 24 protesters were killed after Israeli troops opened fire on them, according to the health ministry.
Despite its military capabilities largely destroyed in the war, Israel says it needs to remain in the country longer to take out Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, including its tunnel network.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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