The funeral for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled for February 23, the group's current chief Naim Qassem announced on Sunday, according to a report by AFP.
Nasrallah was eliminated in an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on September 27. Qassem, who was Nasrallah’s deputy, was named as Hezbollah’s new leader after Hashem Safieddine, who was slated to replace Nasrallah, was also eliminated by Israel.
"After security conditions prevented holding a funeral" amid two months of full-scale war that ended on November 27, Hezbollah has decided to organize "on February 23 a grand... public funeral" for Nasrallah, Qassem stated in a televised speech on Sunday.
"We hope that it will be a grand funeral procession befitting this great personality," he added.
For the first time, Qassem also confirmed that Safieddine had been chosen to replace Nasrallah before he was eliminated in an Israeli strike in October.
Safieddine will be laid to rest "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 revealed, according to AFP.
Both Nasrallah and Safieddine's funerals will take place on the same day.
Nasrallah will be interred on the outskirts of Beirut "in a plot of land we chose between the old and new airport roads," while Safieddine's burial will take place in his hometown of Deir Qanun in southern Lebanon, said Qassem.