Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As Israel’s military penetrated further into South Lebanon to clear the remaining ‘terror infrastructure’ on Friday, the Hezbollah terror group, fearing fresh Israeli strikes on a funeral rally, ‘temporarily buried at a secret location’ its slain chief Hassan Nasrallah, killed on September 27, as Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emerging from a ‘safe place,’ urged the Sunni Muslims to join up and wipe out the Jewish state forever.
“It is the duty and responsibility of all Muslims to help the blooded people of Lebanon and to support Lebanon’s jihad and the battle for al-Aqsa mosque,” he declared.
His words assume significance because Iran feels isolated in this conflict as the Sunni Muslims, including the Arabs, have largely kept aloof from Israel’s ongoing war against Iran-backed terror groups Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Houthis in Yemen.
Quoting sources close to the Lebanon-based Shia terrorist group, the media reported that Nasrallah would remain temporarily buried “until the circumstances allow for a public funeral.”
Delivering his first public sermon in five years at a mosque in Tehran, attended by tens of thousands of supporters, the Ayatollah thundered: “Israel won’t last long,” as he justified Iranian missile attacks on Israel as a “public service.”
Backing the Palestinian and Lebanese movements against Israel in his rare Friday sermon, with a gun kept by his side, the Iranian leader declared that Israel would not prevail against Hamas or Hezbollah as chants of “we are with you” from the crowd echoed in the vast mosque grounds.
The Ayatollah’s sermon marked a crucial show of defiance amid threats to his own life. He remains a top target for Israel, which has vowed to retaliate after Tuesday’s missile attacks by Iran.
In his speech, Khamenei also praised Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last week.
“Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is no longer with us, but his spirit and his path will continue to inspire us forever. He was the high-standing flag against the Zionist enemy. His martyrdom will further increase this influence. The loss of Nasrallah is not in vain. We must stand up against the enemy while strengthening our unwavering faith,” Khamenei told the gathering.
He also called Hezbollah a “blessed tree” that grew steadily under the leadership of Nasrallah.
Khamenei, who also backed the Palestinian Sunni Hamas terror group, called their October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel the “correct move.”
“No international law has the right to object and protest against the Lebanese and Palestinians for standing up for themselves against the occupation,” he declared.
The Ayatollah, who spoke after a prayer ceremony for Nasrallah, also called Israel a “tool” for the United States “to take control of all the lands and resources in the region.”
“There is no doubt that the Zionists and the Americans are dreaming – the Zionist entity will be uprooted from the ground, it has no roots, it is fake, unstable, and exists only because of American support,” said Khamenei.
His sermon comes just three days after Iran launched nearly 180 missiles targeting crucial infrastructure in Israel and three days before the first anniversary of the Israel-Gaza war (October 7).
The Iranian leader had last led Friday prayers in January 2020 after a missile attack on a US army base in Iraq in response to the killing of top Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani.
For Nasrallah, a public funeral was impossible to hold “for fear of Israeli threats they would target mourners and the place of his burial,” the reports said.
The choice of a secret location with low attendance was taken by the group as it feared that a large gathering might attract a fresh attack by Israel, which has been pounding various regions of Lebanon including central Beirut, which came under attack for the first time since 2006, and the country’s border with Syria, cutting off its road connectivity to the rest of the world.
Shiite Muslim rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.
Hezbollah had, through top Lebanese officials, sought but failed to obtain “guarantees” from the United States that Israel would not target a public funeral.
It’s been a week since Nasrallah was assassinated and he still does not have a successor. Nasrallah’s cousin, Hashem Safieddine, a prominent Hezbollah figure touted as a possible successor, was the target of a recent Israeli air strike on south Beirut.