Nasrallah temporarily buried amid fears Israel will strike public funeral — source

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

“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.”

Shiite Muslim rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.

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 of Hezbollah-controlled areas, a massive strike on its south Beirut stronghold on September 27 killed Nasrallah alongside an an Iranian general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Israel said it killed around 20 members of the Iran-backed terror group.

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 reportedly the target of an Israeli airstrike late Thursday on south Beirut. There is still no word on his fate.