Israel army confirms ‘killing’ Hashem Safieddine, potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah

Israel’s army confirmed on Tuesday it “eliminated” Hizbollah’s Hashem Safieddine, apparent successor of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike in a southern Beirut suburb three weeks ago.

“It can now be confirmed that in an attack approximately three weeks ago, Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hizbollah’s Executive Council, and Ali Hussein Hazima, the head of Hizbollah’s Intelligence Directorate, were killed along with other Hizbollah commanders,” the army said in a statement.

Hizbollah has not yet issued a statement regarding the claim.

On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the military has “taken out” Safieddine, without specifically naming him.

In an address to the people of Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israeli forces “took out thousands of terrorists, including (Hizbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement and the replacement of his replacement.”

Late on Tuesday, the army said that Israel’s air force “conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike on Hizbollah’s main intelligence headquarters,” in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Hizbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital three weeks ago.

The statement added that over 25 members of Hizbollah were present in the headquarters during the strike, “including Bilal Saib Aish, who was in charge of aerial intelligence gathering”.

A member of Hizbollah’s decision-making body and a distant relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine was out of contact since Israeli strikes on Beirut weeks ago, a high-level Hizbollah source said at the time.

A source close to Hizbollah told AFP in early October that the deeply religious cleric Safieddine, who had good relations with Hizbollah backer Iran, was the “most likely” candidate for the party’s top job.

Grey-bearded and bespectacled, Safieddine bore a striking resemblance to his distant cousin Nasrallah, but was several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s.

“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership”, the Israeli army’s chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a statement late on Tuesday after the confirmation of Safieddine’s death.