JERUSALEM, Israel
Israel’s army confirmed
Tuesday it “eliminated” Hezbollah’s Hashem Safieddine, apparent successor of
slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike in a southern Beirut suburb three
weeks ago.
Israel's military confirmed on Tuesday the killing of Hezbollah’s Hashem Safieddine.
“It can now be confirmed that
in an attack approximately three weeks ago, Hashem Safieddine, the head of
Hezbollah’s Executive Council, and Ali Hussein Hazima, the head of Hezbollah’s
Intelligence Directorate, were killed along with other Hezbollah commanders,”
the army said in a statement.
Hezbollah 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 (Hezbollah 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
Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters,” in the southern Beirut suburb of
Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital three weeks ago.
The statement added that over
25 Hezbollah militants were present in the headquarters during the strike,
“including Bilal Saib Aish, who was in charge of aerial intelligence
gathering.”
A member of Hezbollah’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 Hezbollah
source said at the time.
A source close to Hezbollah
told AFP in early October that the deeply religious cleric Safieddine, who had
good relations with Hezbollah 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 Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in a statement late on Tuesday after the
confirmation of Safieddine’s death.
After nearly a year of war
with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, Israel shifted its focus to
Lebanon in late September, vowing to secure its northern border threatened by
cross-border fire from Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
Israel ramped up its air
strikes on Hezbollah strongholds around the country and sent in ground troops
late last month, in a war that has killed at least 1,552 people since September
23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
The Israeli military issued
new calls for residents to evacuate areas in the southern suburbs of capital
Beirut on Tuesday evening, warning of imminent attacks.
In recent days the military
has targeted Hezbollah’s financial assets across the country.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, has continued to fire rockets and missiles at Israel.
“As of 23:00 (2000 GMT),
approximately 140 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah terrorist
organization have crossed from Lebanon into Israel today,” the military said in
a statement late on Tuesday.
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