The Israeli army stated on Tuesday that it had weeks in the past killed Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hezbollah’s not too long ago assassinated chief, in an airstrike close to Beirut, Lebanon.Hypothesis about Mr. Safieddine’s conceivable loss of life have been swirling since Israeli warplanes unleashed moves concentrated on a gathering of senior Hezbollah management early in October. It used to be one of the most heaviest bombardments to hit the world, a Hezbollah stronghold referred to as the Dahiya, since an Israeli attack killed Hezbollah’s longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah, on Sept. 27.Mr. Safieddine, a cousin of Mr. Nasrallah and one in every of Hezbollah’s best officers, used to be presumed to be at that assembly.On Tuesday, the Israeli army stated Mr. Safieddine used to be killed in a strike about 3 weeks in the past. Mr. Safieddine had an important affect over Hezbollah and served as the crowd’s chief when his cousin, Mr. Nasrallah, used to be now not in Lebanon, in step with a commentary from the Israeli army.“All through the years, Safieddine directed terrorist assaults in opposition to the state of Israel and participated in Hezbollah’s central decision-making processes,” the commentary stated, including that greater than 25 Hezbollah operatives had been provide on the assembly the place the army struck and killed Mr. Safieddine.The Israeli army didn’t supply any evidence for its statement that Mr. Safieddine used to be lifeless.Hezbollah has most often have shyed away from commenting on his destiny within the weeks because the strike. There used to be no instant remark from Hezbollah.“We’ve got reached Nasrallah, his substitute and maximum of Hezbollah’s senior management,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, leader of the overall workforce of the Israeli army, stated in a commentary. “We can succeed in any individual who threatens the protection of the civilians of the state of Israel.”Mr. Safieddine’s loss of life would come as but any other crushing blow for Hezbollah, which many in Lebanon now imagine rudderless amid the Israeli assassination marketing campaign in opposition to its leaders.On Oct. 7, High Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recommended that Israel had killed Mr. Safieddine, however stopped wanting naming him.Video
Israeli officers stated the assault this month used to be concentrated on a gathering in a bunker that incorporated Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor of Hezbollah’s not too long ago assassinated chief.CreditCredit…Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters“We took out hundreds of terrorists, together with Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s substitute,” Mr. Netanyahu had stated, an obvious connection with Mr. Safieddine.The loss is any other blow to Hezbollah’s management ranks, which were decimated in Israel’s increasing marketing campaign in opposition to the Iranian-backed staff.Mr. Safieddine, born in southern Lebanon within the early Sixties, used to be one in every of Hezbollah’s earliest individuals. He joined after the Shiite staff used to be shaped, with Iranian steerage, within the Nineteen Eighties right through Lebanon’s civil warfare. He rose briefly within the staff along Mr. Nasrallah, enjoying many jobs and serving as a political, religious and cultural chief. He additionally led Hezbollah’s army actions at one level.Like Mr. Nasrallah, Mr. Safieddine in most cases seemed in a black turban, marking him as a respected Shiite cleric who may hint his ancestry again to the Prophet Muhammad. And prefer his cousin, Mr. Safieddine studied in Iran: He pursued spiritual research within the town of Qom prior to returning to Lebanon to paintings for Hezbollah.He used to be shut buddies with Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who commanded the Islamic Modern Guards Corps’ Quds Drive in Iran till the US killed him in an airstrike in Baghdad in 2020. Later that yr, Mr. Safieddine’s son married the Iranian common’s daughter in a much-publicized wedding ceremony that some analysts and critics level to as emblematic of Iran’s entrenchment in Hezbollah.The USA and Saudi Arabia designated Mr. Safieddine a terrorist in Would possibly 2017 for his Hezbollah management function. On the time, the State Division described him as “a senior chief” in Hezbollah’s Government Council, which oversees the crowd’s “political, organizational, social and academic actions.”The USA had designated Hezbollah a 15 May Organization twenty years previous, and holds the crowd liable for a number of assaults that killed loads of American citizens, together with the bombings of the American Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut within the early Nineteen Eighties, and the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.Farnaz Fassihi, Euan Ward and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
