JERUSALEM/BEIRUT – The Israeli military confirmed on Tuesday that Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, was killed in an airstrike on Beirut three weeks ago.
Safieddine was a cousin of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. After Israel assassinated Nasrallah on Sept 27, Safieddine was widely presumed to be Nasrallah’s successor.
Safieddine was killed in a bombing carried out by Israeli warplanes on Beirut's southern suburb, the military said in a statement.
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The attack targeted a building where, according to Israel, Hezbollah's main underground intelligence headquarters were located.
About 25 senior Hezbollah commanders were present in the building during the attack, the Israeli military said without clarifying whether they survived.
Safieddine was also a member of the Shura Council, Hezbollah's highest military-political body, responsible for decision-making and setting the group's policies. He was also the head of its executive council, overseeing financial and administrative affairs.
Safieddine hails from a prominent Lebanese Shi'ite family, and was born in the country's predominantly Shi'ite south. Like Nasrallah, he also used to wear the black turban denoting his status as a sayyed, or descendent of the Prophet Mohammed.
Safieddine studied at religious seminaries in the Iranian city of Qom before returning to Lebanon in the 1990s to assume leadership responsibilities in the group.
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He assumed a prominent role speaking for Hezbollah during the past year of hostilities with Israel, addressing funerals and other events that Nasrallah had long avoided for security reasons.
He led efforts to rebuild the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut following the group's 2006 war with Israel, when swathes of the area were flattened by Israeli airstrikes. In a 2012 speech, Safieddine said the post-war reconstruction had amounted to "a new victory" over Israel.
He was the first Hezbollah official to speak in public after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, igniting the Gaza war that drew Hezbollah into a parallel conflict with Israel.
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"We have reached Nasrallah, his successor, and most of Hezbollah's leadership," Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said following the announcement of Safieddine's killing.
"We will know how to reach anyone who threatens the security of Israel's citizens."
Hezbollah has not commented on the announcement by the Israeli military.
With inputs from Reuters
