Israel on Tuesday confirmed it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed last month in an Israeli attack targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
The military said Safieddine was killed in a strike carried out three weeks ago in Beirut’s southern suburbs, its first confirmation of his death. Earlier this month, Israel said he had probably been eliminated.
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah to Israel’s statement that it had killed Safieddine.
“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership. We will reach anyone who threatens the security of the civilians of the State of Israel,” said Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.
Israel has been carrying out an escalating offensive in Lebanon after a year of border clashes with Hezbollah, the most formidably armed of Iran’s proxy forces across the Middle East. The group has been acting in support of Palestinian militants fighting Israel in Gaza but is reeling from a spate of killings of its senior commanders in Israeli airstrikes in recent weeks.
A relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine was appointed to its Jihad Council – the body responsible for its military operations – and to its executive council, overseeing Hezbollah’s financial and administrative affairs.
Safieddine assumed a prominent role speaking for Hezbollah during the last year of hostilities with Israel, addressing funerals and other events that Nasrallah had long been unable to attend for security reasons.
Israel has so far shown no sign of relenting in its Gaza and Lebanon campaigns even after assassinating several leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, which lost Nasrallah, its powerful secretary-general, in a Sept. 27 airstrike.
Diplomats say Israel aims to lock in a strong position before a new U.S. administration takes over following the Nov. 5 election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump.
Israel’s confirmation of Safieddine’s death came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to capitalise on the killing of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar by securing the release of the Oct. 7 attack hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
After repeated abortive attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Blinken was making his 11th trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war erupted – and the last before a presidential election that could upend U.S. policy.
Blinken was also seeking ways to defuse the conflict in Lebanon, where overnight at least 18 people were killed, including four children, and 60 injured by an Israeli airstrike near Beirut’s main state hospital.
REUTERS
