Israel confirms killing Hezbollah's apparent successor Hashem Safieddine

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Oct 22 confirmed killing Hezbollah's likely successor Hashem Safieddine in a strike in a southern Beirut suburb three weeks ago.

Israel's army confirmed that it "eliminated" 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.

The Israeli army said that the air force "conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah's main intelligence headquarters," in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh — Hezbollah's stronghold.

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

However, there has been no confirmation from iran-backed Hezbollah to corroborate this claim.

Safieddine was a key member of Hezbollah's decision-making body and slain group's chief Hasan Nasrallah's cousin. Since Israeli strikes on Beirut weeks ago, Safieddine could not be contacted, a high-level Hezbollah source had said at the time.

On Oct 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that his military had killed Safieddine but did not specifically name him.

Netanyahu, while addressing the people of Lebanon said Israeli forces “took out thousands of terrorists, including (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah's replacement and the replacement of his replacement.”

"We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah's senior leadership", the Israeli army's chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in the statement after the confirmation of Safieddine's death.