Delegations flock to Safieddine's hometown for his funeral
Delegations were flocking Monday to the southern town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in the Tyre district for the funeral and burial of slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasham Safieddine, who was killed four days after succeeding Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as Hezbollah’s secretary-general.
A massive funeral was organized Sunday for the two leaders at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, after which Nasrallah was buried at a dedicated mausoleum near Beirut’s airport.
In Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, the town’s streets were decorated with Lebanese flags and those of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement as well as the posters of Safieddine and Nasrallah.
Hezbollah’s leadership will receive condolences from 12pm till 3pm at the town’s mosque prior to Safieddine’s burial.
Security forces and Hezbollah crews were meanwhile taking care of security and logistic measures.
Like Nasrallah, Safieddine was killed by around 80 tons of bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes as Israel escalated its military campaign against Hezbollah in September and November. The two leaders were initially buried at secret locations for security reasons.
The deeply religious Safieddine, a cleric with family ties to Nasrallah, had been widely viewed as the most likely candidate for the party's top job after the assassination of Nasrallah on September 27.
Safieddine, who was a member of the group's governing Shura Council, had strong ties to Iran after undergoing religious studies in the Islamic republic's holy city of Qom.
Safieddine bore a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah but was several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s.
The United States and Saudi Arabia had put Safieddine, who was a member of Hezbollah's powerful decision-making Shura Council, on their respective lists of designated "terrorists" in 2017.
The U.S. Treasury described him as "a senior leader" in Hezbollah and "a key member" of its executive.
Safieddine’s son is married to the daughter of General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm who was killed in a 2020 U.S. strike in Iraq.
Safieddine has the title of Sayyed, his black turban marking him, like Nasrallah, as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.
Unlike Nasrallah, who lived in hiding for years, Safieddine had appeared openly at political and religious events.
Usually presenting a calm demeanor, he had upped the fiery rhetoric during the funerals of Hezbollah fighters killed in nearly a year of cross-border clashes with Israel.
In July in a speech in Beirut's southern suburbs, Safieddine alluded to how Hezbollah views its leadership succession.
"In our resistance... when any leader is martyred, another takes up the flag and goes on with new, certain, strong determination," he said.
Source: Naharnet
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