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Hashem Safieddine, the man rumored to have succeeded Hezbollah’s late chief Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in Israel’s airstrike on Beirut on Friday, the TV channel Al Arabiya claimed on Saturday.
The outlet’s sources claimed that the 60-year-old cleric, who headed up Hezbollah’s Executive Council and was often described before Nasrallah’s death as the number two within the organization, was assassinated after an attack on the southern part of the city, along with several unnamed Iranian aides and Hezbollah commanders. Safieddine was reportedly hiding in a deep bomb shelter.
Echoing the claim, an unnamed Lebanese official cited by Reuters and Sky News Arabia said that the chances of anyone surviving in the targeted area are “almost zero.” Moreover, a Reuters source said that Safieddine had been unreachable since Friday’s strike. A Jerusalem Post report also said that Esmail Ghaani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was likely injured in the Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital.
Earlier, however, Israeli media reports suggested that Safieddine had only been injured, adding that the air raid had targeted a gathering of top Hezbollah intelligence commanders.
Hezbollah has yet to comment on reports of Safieddine’s death. However, it previously denied rumors that he had been appointed to replace Nasrallah, the group’s longtime leader who was assassinated in another Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. At the time, Safieddine was described as one of the few senior Hezbollah officials to have escaped the Israeli attacks.
The Beirut bombing comes after Israel launched a “limited” ground incursion to neutralize various Hezbollah facilities and carried out a series of strikes against Hezbollah’s leadership. Israeli officials have touted the strikes as effective, saying they eliminated not only Nasrallah, but also numerous Hezbollah military officials.
