Politics Israel kills most promising Nasrallah successor

According to its own statements, Israel's military has killed senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safi al-Din in Lebanon.

Safi al-Din, who was seen as the most promising successor to the previously killed Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, was "eliminated" around three weeks ago in an attack in the capital Beirut, the Israeli military announced on Platform X in the evening. In addition, the commander of Hezbollah's secret service was also killed. Ali Hussein Hasima had been responsible for directing numerous attacks on Israeli soldiers, it said.

The pro-Iranian Shiite militia did not initially confirm the deaths of the two men. According to the Israeli military, Safi al-Din was killed in an attack on the headquarters of the Hezbollah secret service in a suburb of Beirut. He was a member of the so-called Shura Council, Hezbollah's highest-ranking military-political body. This body is responsible for decision-making and the political organization of the terrorist organization.

Israel: Killed man was one of Hezbollah's most important leaders

As head of the Executive Council, Safi al-Din had long been one of the most important figures within the Hezbollah leadership. He was the maternal cousin of the late Nasrallah and, according to the newspaper "Asharq al-Awsat", the father of the son-in-law of the powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq in 2020. In the times when Nasrallah was not in Lebanon, Safi al-Din took on the role of Secretary General of Hezbollah, the Israeli military said. He had led terrorist attacks against Israel.

Safi al-Din was around 60 years old - his exact age is not known - and comes from the village of Dair Kanun al-Nahr in southern Lebanon. He is said to have been trained in Iran in the 1980s. In 2008, he became head of the Executive Council, which manages Hezbollah in political, organizational and social areas.

In contrast to the slain leader Nasrallah, who lived in seclusion and whose whereabouts were kept secret, Safi al-Din appeared publicly at Hezbollah events until the end. In mid-June, he spoke at the funeral of a Hezbollah commander. Following the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah communication devices around two weeks ago, he threatened Israel with "bloody, unique revenge" in a speech.

USA regarded Safi al-Din as a terrorist

Apart from Nasrallah, Israel's military has so far mainly killed military commanders, but not members of the upper political ranks within the organization. In 1992, Israel also killed the then leader Abbas al-Mussawi, who was succeeded by Nasrallah.

The USA declared Safi al-Din a terrorist together with Saudi Arabia in 2017. Among other things, they hold him responsible for a devastating suicide attack in 1983 on the headquarters of the US Marines in Beirut, in which 241 US soldiers were killed. In a rewritten version, he is also known by the surname Safieddine.

The militia may have suffered its heaviest blows for decades, but it is likely to continue the conflict with Israel, albeit in a weakened state. Last year, Safi al-Din said: "It may take one war, two wars, three wars" and require "multiple confrontations", but ultimately Israel must be destroyed and "come to an end".

SDA