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Israel Takes Out Hezbollah's New Leader In Lebanon Airstrike Less Than A Week After Nasrallah's Killing: Report

Hashem Safieddine, presumed successor to Hezbollah's Nasrallah, was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut, according to Saudi news outlet Al Hadath.

Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hassan Nasrallah, was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday, less than a week after the Hezbollah chief was killed in the Lebanese capital.

Safieddine was killed after the IDF operation was aimed at him and other high-ranking members of the militant group gathered in an underground bunker. The Israeli military strike targeted a meeting of senior Hezbollah officials in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing Saudi news outlet Al Hadath.

Safieddine, who oversaw military operations as head of the Iran-backed group’s executive council, was widely regarded as the heir to Nasrallah, who was killed in an earlier Israeli airstrike that also targeted dozens of leaders of the Iran-backed group. He was designated a terrorist by the US State Department in 2017 and is a cousin of Nasrallah.

Report of Safieddine’s killing comes as Israeli troops had started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of bombing of areas across the country where the group holds sway. Both sides have exchanged fire in recent weeks as the Israeli military targets Hezbollah’s infrastructure and personnel, claiming to have killed numerous militants.

After reports about the death of Nasrallah’s presumed successor emerged, pro-Israeli accounts on X started mocking the Iran-backed group. “The current life span for a new Hezbollah Secretary General is 0.56 Scaramuccis,” said Alex Plitsas. “Looks like Hashem Safieddine had a short run as leader of Hezbollah,” wrote X user Kvist.

Born in the early 1960s in southern Lebanon, Safieddine is considered one of the founding members of Hezbollah. He joined the Shiite militant group during its formation in the 1980s, amid Lebanon’s civil war, and rose through its ranks alongside Nasrallah.

Known for wearing a black turban, which signifies his status as a Shiite cleric, Safieddine has held various leadership roles within Hezbollah, including overseeing military operations and serving as a political and cultural leader.

This report about Safieddine came as Israel began a ground incursion Tuesday into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali and his family, the militant group said Saturday. The early morning strike came a day after another Israeli airstrike cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road.


Source: news18

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