Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah's Funeral To Be Held On February 23

The funeral for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed last September in an Israeli strike, will be held on February 23, the Iran-backed group's current chief Naim Qassem said on Sunday.

Qassem also confirmed for the first time that leading official 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.

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 said.

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 Qanun in southern Lebanon, he said.

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