Israel’s army confirmed it “eliminated” Hezbollah’s Hashem Safieddine, apparent successor of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike in Dahiyeh, the souhtern suburb of Beirut, three weeks ago.
“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 army said in a statement.
Hezbollah has not yet issued a statement regarding the claim.
On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the military has “taken out” Safieddine, without specifically naming him.
Late on Tuesday, the army said that Israel’s air force “conducted a 'precise', intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters,” in the Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital three weeks ago.
The statement added that over 25 militants of Hezbollah were present in the headquarters during the strike, “including Bilal Saib Aish, who was in charge of aerial intelligence gathering”.
A member of Hezbollah’s decision-making body and a distant relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine was out of contact since Israeli strikes on Beirut weeks ago, a high-level Hezbollah source said at the time.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP in early October that the deeply religious cleric Safieddine, who had good relations with Hezbollah backer Iran, was the “most likely” candidate for the party’s top job.
“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership”, the Israeli army’s chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a statement late on Tuesday after the confirmation of Safieddine’s death.
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