The Israeli Army on Tuesday said that it killed top Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine in an airstrike on Lebanon’s capital Beirut three weeks ago.
Safieddine was the presumed successor of Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of the Lebanon-based militant group, according to AFP. Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than 32 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut on September 27.
“It can now be confirmed that in an attack approximately three weeks ago, Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, and Ali Hussein Hazima, the head of Hezbollah’s Intelligence Directorate, were killed along with other Hezbollah commanders," the Israeli Army said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hezbollah it yet to issue a statement about Safieddine’s death.
Safieddine was the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, which is the highest political decision-making body of the militant group, The Guardian reported. He was reportedly picked as the successor to Nasrallah a few years ago. Safieddine was also Nasrallah’s cousin.
On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his army “took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement and the replacement of his replacement”.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army said that it “conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters” in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh three weeks ago.
Over 25 Hezbollah militants were present in the headquarters during the strike, “including Bilal Saib Aish, who was in charge of aerial intelligence gathering”, the statement added.
Hezbollah is an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas. Both organisations are backed by Iran.
Meanwhile, Israel continued to bombard parts of Lebanon on Tuesday amid what is said to be the deadliest attack the country has faced since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily strikes for over 10 months amid Tel Aviv’s war on the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
At least 1,552 persons have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, AFP reported. However, the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the figures, according to the news agency.
The attacks have also displaced thousands of Lebanese citizens.
The ongoing bombardment in Lebanon is seen as a significant escalation of geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then. The attacks have killed more than 43,000 persons, including nearly 16,700 children.
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