The Israeli military said that one of its airstrikes earlier this month killed Hashem Safieddine. There was no immediate confirmation from the militant group about the fate of top official.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed a top Hezbollah official who had been widely expected to be the group’s next leader.
There was no immediate confirmation from the militant group about the fate of Hashem Safieddine.
Safieddine, a powerful cleric within the party ranks, was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.
Israel said Safieddine was killed by an airstrike in early October in a southern suburb of Beirut. Around 25 other Hezbollah leaders were killed during the strike, Israel said.
Israeli strikes in recent months have killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, leaving the group in disarray.
The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday. The Israeli military leveled a building in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut that it said housed Hezbollah facilities.
The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred meters (yards) from where a spokesperson for the militant group had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged the Israeli prime minister’s house.
The airstrike came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah. The Hezbollah press conference nearby was cut short, and an Associated Press photographer captured an image of a missile heading towards the building moments before it was destroyed. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, said the group was behind the Saturday drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea. He hinted that it might attempt future strikes on Netanyahu’s home. Israel has said neither the prime minister nor his wife were home at the time of the attack.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday with Netanyahu as part of his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. After Israel’s killing last week of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Blinken is trying to revive efforts to secure a cease-fire in Gaza. So far, both Israel and Hamas appear to be digging in.
Blinken stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and said Israel should “capitalize” on Sinwar’s death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages there.
