Israel claims to have killed Hezbollah official expected to be group’s next leader

File picture of Hezbollah senior official Sayyed Hashem Safieddine
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli military said Tuesday (October 22, 2024) that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed a top Hezbollah official who had been widely expected to be the group’s next leader.

There was no immediate confirmation from the militant group about the fate of Hashem Safieddine.

Safieddine, a powerful cleric within the party ranks, was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.

Israel said Safieddine was killed by an airstrike in early October in a southern suburb of Beirut. Around 25 other Hezbollah leaders were killed during the strike, Israel said.

Israeli strikes in recent months have killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, leaving the group in disarray.

The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday. The Israeli military leveled a building in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut that it said housed Hezbollah facilities.

The airstrike came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, said the group was behind the Saturday drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea. He hinted that it might attempt future strikes on Netanyahu’s home. Israel has said neither the prime minister nor his wife were home at the time of the attack.