Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah temporarily buried over security concerns
Shafaq News/
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has been temporarily buried in a
secret location due to fears that Israel might target a large funeral, a source
close to the group told AFP on Friday.
"Hassan
Nasrallah has been temporarily buried until circumstances allow for a public
funeral," the source stated, following an Israeli airstrike that resulted
in the leader's death last week.
The source
added that holding a public funeral had become impossible "for fear of
Israeli threats to target mourners and the place of his burial."
A Lebanese
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to AFP, indicated that
Hezbollah had sought guarantees from top Lebanese officials but failed to
secure any assurances from the United States, a key ally of Israel, that Israel
would not strike a public funeral.
The news
comes amid escalating Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah's stronghold in southern
Beirut. A strike on September 27 resulted in Nasrallah's death, alongside an
Iranian Revolutionary Guards general.
Israel
claimed that around 20 members of the Iran-backed militant group were killed in
the attack, a statement that Hezbollah has denied.
As of now,
Hezbollah has not designated a successor to Nasrallah. Reports suggest that his
cousin, Hashem Safieddine, a prominent figure within the group and rumored as a
potential successor, was the target of a recent Israeli airstrike in southern
Beirut.