Israel may have killed new Hezbollah leader in Beirut strike - media
Photo: Hezbollah's new leader Hashem Safieddine (wikipedia.org)
The successor to the eliminated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, may have been killed in the Israeli attack on Beirut (Lebanon) on October 4. But there is no confirmed information yet, according to Al Arabiya and Reuters.
As the Secretary General of the Arab Islamic Council Mohammad Ali Al-Husseini said on Al Arabiya, the new leader of Hezbollah is among the dead in the strike on the southern part of Beirut.
Al Hadath, citing sources, writes that Safieddine was in a bunker, and the Israeli air force allegedly used a 73-ton bomb. The head of Hamas intelligence, known as Mortada, could have been with him.
According to Reuters, Israeli airstrikes are preventing search operations at the site of the alleged strike on Safieddine's bunker. The agency, citing three sources, notes that the new terrorist leader has been unavailable since Friday's strike.
The Israeli side has not yet announced the elimination of Safieddine.
Who is Hashem Safieddine
A strike on Beirut in late September killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. After a series of attacks, Israel launched a ground operation in Lebanon, but airstrikes continued.
Hashem Safieddine became the group's secretary general. He is Nasrallah's cousin and the son-in-law of the liquidated commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani.
According to Al-Arabia, he had been handling Hezbollah's “delicate” affairs for three decades, while Nasrallah was in charge of strategics.
