Israel confirms the murder of Hezbollah's alleged successor Hashem Safieddine

Jerusalem, October 22 (EFE). – The Israeli military confirmed late Tuesday the death of Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in late September.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Avichay Adraee confirmed the death of the top Hezbollah official in an attack on October 4.

“We reached Nasrallah, his successor, and most of Hezbollah's leaders. We will know how to reach anyone who threatens the security of the citizens of Israel,” he said in a post on X late Tuesday.

Along with the death of Safieddine, who the Israeli military said was the chairman of Hezbollah's Executive Council and also Nasrallah's cousin, the IDF also announced the death of Ali Hussein Hazima, the commander of Hezbollah's intelligence cell.

In an explanatory post on 3 weeks ago.”

According to Adraee, more than 25 members of Hezbollah's intelligence division were at the command headquarters.

The headquarters was underground in Dahieh, in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Israel has stepped up strikes over the last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on October 8 that Israel had killed Safieddine and his would-be successor.

“We have eliminated thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah's successor and the successor's successor,” he said, without naming names.

However, the IDF said at the time that it was investigating his possible death, which intelligence confirmed on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, at least 10 people were killed and 31 injured in two separate Israeli attacks on the towns of Ksar al-Zaatar in southern Lebanon and Al-Maali in the east, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

In two brief statements, the ministry said at least five people were killed and 10 others injured in an Israeli attack on Al-Maali in the Baalbek-Hermel region of eastern Lebanon.

Five more Lebanese were killed and 21 injured in another attack on Ksar al-Zaatar in southern Nabatea, the ministry added.

The ministry also announced that another 18 people, including four children, were killed and another 60 were injured in an Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri Hospital on the outskirts of Beirut on Monday evening.

Since Israel launched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon on October 1, at least 2,483 people have died, of whom Israel says more than 1,500 were militants.

From the start of the exchange of fire on the Israeli-Lebanon border on October 8, 2023 until the escalation of the conflict, 52 people died in Israel – half of them civilians – and more than 700 people died in Lebanon. More than 400 were Hezbollah fighters and about 100 civilians . EFE

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