Iran holds ceremony to commemorate Hezbollah's slain leader Safieddine

TEHRAN - Iran on Thursday held a ceremony in Tehran to commemorate Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut earlier this month.

The ceremony, during which other slain leaders and commanders of the regional resistance groups were also commemorated, was attended by Iran officials, as well as the representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah.

During the ceremony, the attendees waved flags of Iran, Hezbollah, and Palestine and chanted slogans against Israel and the United States, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hezbollah's representative in Tehran and Hashem Safieddine's brother, Sayyed Abdallah Safieddine, hailed Iran for its support for the Lebanese group.

In remarks at the ceremony, Mohammad-Hassan Akhtari, head of Iran's presidential Committee of Support for the Islamic Revolution of the Palestinian People, said that the deaths of the resistance front's commanders "will not affect the resistance movement and Hezbollah will continue its path with strength."

The Israeli military confirmed earlier this month that Hashem Safieddine had been killed in a bombing carried out by Israeli warplanes on Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh on Oct 3. Hezbollah also confirmed Hashem Safieddine's death in a statement issued later.