Nasrallah buried in secret due to security fears amid constant Israeli strikes

Following his assassination in Beirut by Israel last week, late Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was buried in a “secret and safe” place without the traditional public funeral arrangements, a source close to Hezbollah told Mada Masr. 

The source confirmed that once the situation permits, Nasrallah’s body is to be moved to Karbala, Iraq, in accordance with his will.

In the Lebanese capital, a series of missiles were launched in quick succession in a massive raid on the southern suburbs in the early hours of Friday. The impact was audible across the city, where eyewitnesses were quick to compare it to the raid that killed Nasrallah last Friday. 

The extent of the destruction rendered the area inaccessible, though videos shared by residents approaching the scene in the aftermath showed flames leaping high in a number of buildings and deep cracks in the surface of the road.

Israeli media was quick to claim that the target of the strike was the head of Hezbollah’s executive committee, Hashem Safieddine. Investigations were ongoing as to whether or not Safieddine was present at the time of the strike, Israeli Army Radio reported on Friday. 

The Israeli military also claimed on Friday that it had assassinated the commander of Hezbollah’s communications unit, Mohamed Rashid Skafi. 

The strike targeted an area between Tahwitat al-Ghadir, Borj al-Brajneh and Hadath in Beirut, further west of many of the nightly strikes that targeted the suburbs. The same night, residents of Hadath were warned to evacuate only around 30 minutes prior to the airstrikes on the residential area. 

Mourning the passing of Nasrallah, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered a Friday sermon in Iran honoring Nasrallah and those killed alongside him, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan. Thousands attended the sermon, according to Iranian outlet Tasnim. Khamenei’s last Friday sermon was in 2020 following the assassination of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani.

In a display of support for Lebanon amid the intense bombing campaign, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Beirut on Friday morning to meet with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Amal Movement head and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. 

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has been and still is supportive of Lebanon, it has been and still is supportive of the Lebanese Shiites, it has been and still is supportive of Hezbollah, and it was necessary to say this personally," Araghchi told the press in Beirut. 

Talks on a ceasefire, meanwhile, remain at the sidelines of the ongoing conflict. On Friday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib revealed in an interview with CNN that Nasrallah had agreed to a 21-day ceasefire a few days before he was assassinated in the Israeli raid. Nasrallah had consulted with Berri and the United States and France were informed of the decision, according to Bou Habib.

Bou Habib indicated that Netanyahu too, at the time of the United Nations General Assembly, had been prepared to cooperate with the initiative put forward by world leaders to prevent escalation in the region, led by the US and French presidents. Bou Habib described the assassination as stopping everything in its tracks. 

Ezzat al-Rishq, member of the Hamas political bureau, issued a statement following the interview on Friday, pointing to Nasrallah’s willingness to accept a ceasefire prior to his assassination as confirmation of Netanyahu’s use of ceasefire negotiations to buy time. 

Amid speculation regarding how Israel will respond to the ballistic missile attack Iran launched on the former on October 1, US President Joe Biden was quick to voice his opposition to the targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities earlier in the week. “The answer is no,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday when asked if he would support this type of retaliation.

Energy facilities have been touted as another possible target, with resistance factions in Iraq noting on Thursday that they would cut oil supplies “if the energy war starts.” In that case, “the world will lose 12 million barrels daily,” said the statement.

Far from the political stage in Beirut, Hezbollah continued on Friday to clash with Israeli forces in the field in southern Lebanon. The Israeli press reported that about 60 rockets had been fired from southern Lebanon toward Israel since Friday morning. While sirens sounded in Galilee, Haifa and other areas in the north, Occupation forces ordered southern Lebanese citizens to evacuate their homes in 37 villages and towns.

Hezbollah fighters used explosive devices and missile salvos to repel Israeli military incursions into Lebanon at several sites in Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun, killing 17 Occupation soldiers on Thursday, according to statements issued by the group. Israel had acknowledged the deaths of nine of its soldiers in Lebanon since it began to clash with Hezbollah fighters on Wednesday.

Hezbollah also aimed rockets at Israeli settlements across northern Israel, at the port city of Haifa and a military industries base in Akka on Friday morning. The Israeli military released statements on the intensity of rocket fire from Lebanon at settlements in the north, warning its citizens to take shelter. 

Intense Israeli bombardment continued in southern Lebanon. Drone strikes targeted paramedics on Friday next to the Tebnin Governmental Hospital killing two, and near the Marjayoun Hospital, which sits closer to the border, as the ambulance crews worked to transfer injured people to the medical facility. Three paramedics were killed at Marjayoun.

Marjayoun Hospital was later fully evacuated to the Nabih Berri Hospital, Marjayoun Hospital Director Mounes Klakesh told Mada Masr on Friday. Three more public hospitals in the south were also evacuated on Friday, according to a Mada Masr correspondent in Nabatieh. 

The day prior, Lebanese Health Minister Firass al-Abiad had said that 37 hospitals in the south had already been evacuated.

The ministry announced on Thursday evening that 37 people were killed and 151 were injured in a 24-hour period as a result of Israel’s aggression. Most of Friday’s victims were health workers, with 28 reported killed, according to the World Health Organization. 

Israeli airstrikes also targeted in the early hours of Friday morning an area near the Masnaa crossing between Lebanon and Syria, disrupting the movement of people and goods. 

Lebanese Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh explained that the strike took place inside Lebanese territory, near the crossing, leaving a four-meter-deep crater. 

A Mada Masr correspondent said the area was targeted with three missiles, but that transit continued as cars began to leave the displaced at the site that was being targeted. Travelers seeking to leave Lebanon to Syria, of whom there are hundreds of thousands amid the ongoing aggression, then crossed on foot to be picked up by car on the Syrian side. 

The attack on the crossing will interrupt the flow of goods, however, the correspondent noted, anticipating that the damage would constitute a hurdle to land freight traffic.