Hezbollah to hold funeral for late leader Nasrallah on Feb. 23: Sheikh Qassem
Hezbollah to hold funeral for late leader Nasrallah on Feb. 23: Sheikh Qassem
M.U.H
03/02/202545
Tehran: Hezbollah will hold a funeral for its late secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on February 23, according to the Lebanese resistance movement’s current leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem.
In a televised speech on Sunday, Sheikh Qassem said the funeral for the former head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, will also be held on the same day.
Nasrallah, the charismatic long-time leader of Hezbollah, was assassinated last September in a massive Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Safieddine, a cousin and a close aide to Nasrallah who was tapped to replace him as the group’s leader, was also killed in an Israeli raid in October.
Sheikh Qassem said security conditions did not allow a funeral to be held for the resistance leaders during the two months of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The hostilities ended on November 27 after the warring sides accepted a ceasefire mediated by France and the United States. Under that deal, Israel was required to halt all its attacks on Lebanon and complete the withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon by January 26.
However, Israel did not meet that deadline and carried out hundreds of attacks on Lebanon. The deadline for the Israeli withdrawal was extended to February 18.
Sheikh Qassem said the Lebanese government was responsible for ensuring that Israel complies with the ceasefire agreement and stops its attacks on Lebanon.
He said Hezbollah exercised restraint to give the Lebanese government time to act, but the Israeli regime continues to breach the ceasefire.
He said resistance was a “path and an option,” and that Hezbollah would take appropriate action at the time of its choosing if the violations persist.
The return of the residents of southern Lebanon to their homes was a victory for resistance and a “dignified reclamation of the occupied territories,” Sheikh Qassem said.
He promised that all occupied territories of Lebanon would be liberated.
