BEIRUT, Oct 4 — A source close to Hezbollah said Friday that the Lebanese group’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah has been temporarily buried in a secret location for fear Israel would target a large funeral.

"Hassan Nasrallah has been temporarily buried, until the circumstances allow for a public funeral,” the source said, after an Israeli strike killed the leader last week.

The source said a public funeral had been impossible to hold "for fear of Israeli threats they would target mourners and the place of his burial”.

Shiite Muslim rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.

A Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Hezbollah had, through top Lebanese officials, sought but failed to obtain "guarantees” from the United States, a key ally of Israel, that Israel would not target a public funeral.

Amid intensifying Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah, a massive strike on its south Beirut stronghold on September 27 killed Nasrallah alongside an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general.

Israel said it killed around 20 members of the Iran-backed group.

Nasrallah still does not have a successor a week after he was killed.

His cousin Hashem Safieddine, a prominent Hezbollah figure touted as a possible successor, was the target of a recent Israeli air strike on south Beirut, US and Israeli media reported. — AFP