Israel says it has killed presumed successor of Hezbollah chief

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.

???? Hashem Safieddine, Head of the Hezbollah Executive Council and Ali Hussein Hazima, Commander of Hezbollah’s Intelligence Headquarters, were eliminated during a strike on Hezbollah’s main intelligence HQ in Dahieh approx. 3 weeks ago.

Hashem Safieddine was a member of the… pic.twitter.com/Z2wQGsRxvt— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 22, 2024

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,...

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