(Image source from: REUTERS)

On Tuesday, Israel's military announced that it had "killed" Hezbollah's Hashem Safieddine, who was seen as the likely successor to the assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, during an operation in a southern suburb of Beirut three weeks prior. "We can now affirm that in a strike around three weeks ago, Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, along with Ali Hussein Hazima, chief of Hezbollah's Intelligence Directorate, were annihilated along with other Hezbollah leaders," the military declared in a statement. Hezbollah has yet to respond to this assertion. On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the military had "eliminated" Safieddine, although he did not name him directly. In a message to the citizens of Lebanon, Netanyahu stated that Israeli troops had "taken out thousands of terrorists, including (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and his successor as well as the successor of his successor."

Later that Tuesday, the military mentioned that Israel's air force had "executed a precise, intelligence driven strike on Hezbollah's primary intelligence center" in Dahiyeh, a southern Beirut neighborhood that serves as Hezbollah's stronghold, three weeks ago. The statement further noted that over 25 Hezbollah militants were present at the facility during the strike, "including Bilal Saib Aish, who was responsible for aerial intelligence operations". A Hezbollah decision-making body member and a distant relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine had been out of communication since the Israeli bombardments on Beirut a few weeks earlier, according to a senior Hezbollah insider at the time. An informant close to Hezbollah revealed to AFP in early October that the deeply devout cleric Safieddine, who maintained strong ties with Hezbollah's ally Iran, was the "most probable" candidate for leading the party. Distinguished by his grey beard and glasses, Safieddine closely resembled his distant cousin Nasrallah but was younger, estimated to be in his late 50s or early 60s. "We have reached Nasrallah, his successor, and the majority of Hezbollah's senior leadership," stated the Israeli army's chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi in a statement late on Tuesday following the confirmation of Safieddine's demise.