Nasrallah temporarily buried for fear of Israeli strike on funeral: Sources

AFP , Friday 4 Oct 2024

A source close to Hezbollah said Friday that the Lebanese group's slain chief Hassan Nasrallah has been temporarily buried in a secret location for fear Israel would target a large funeral.

Hezbollah
A picture taken during a tour organised by Hezbollah media office on October 2, 2024 shows portraits of the group's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah hanging on the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on a neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs. Photo by AFP

 

"Hassan Nasrallah has been temporarily buried, until the circumstances allow for a public funeral," the source said, after an Israeli strike killed the leader last week.

The source said a public funeral had been impossible to hold "for fear of Israeli threats they would target mourners and the place of his burial".

A Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Hezbollah had, through top Lebanese officials, sought but failed to obtain "guarantees" from the United States, a key ally of Israel, that Israel would not target a public funeral.

Amid intensifying Israeli bombardment on Lebanon, a massive strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on September 27 killed Nasrallah alongside an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general.

Nasrallah still does not have a successor a week after he was killed.

His cousin Hashem Safieddine, a prominent Hezbollah figure touted as a possible successor, was the target of a recent Israeli air strike on south Beirut, US and Israeli media reported.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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