Senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine attends a funeral in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, on September 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Hashem Safieddine, a strongman who rose through the ranks of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over decades to become the second-most powerful person within the organisation, has died.

Safieddine, who was about 60, was killed in early October in a series of Israeli airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut that shook much of the Lebanese capital, part of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah. Israel said Tuesday (October 22, 2024) that Safieddine had been killed in the strikes; Hezbollah confirmed the death Wednesday (October 23, 2024).

Safieddine’s death came as he was widely expected to be elected the group’s next leader after the death of Hassan Nasrallah, one of its founders.

Safieddine, Nasrallah’s maternal cousin, had spent years preparing for the position — but the announcement was slow in coming following the September 27 airstrike in the Beirut suburbs that killed Nasrallah, part of a series of blows dealt by Israel that had left Hezbollah in disarray.

A black-turbaned cleric with a thick gray beard who bore a strong resemblance to Nasrallah, Safieddine was known for defiant speeches in which he vowed that Hezbollah would keep fighting Israel no matter the price.

A familiar face in Lebanon and a leader with close ties to Iran, he was a member of the group’s decision-making Shura Council and its Jihad Council, which acts as its military command. He also headed its Executive Council, which runs schools and social programs.

Safieddine’s death comes at a delicate time for Hezbollah. In the wake of its ally Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles at Israel — and they have exchanged fire regularly since.

But recent weeks have seen a significant escalation, as Israel carried out a series of strikes on top Hezbollah commanders and apparently blew up thousands of communication devices used by the group’s members. It has since launched a ground invasion in Lebanon that it says aims to push Hezbollah militants back from the border.

Despite the lack of formal announcement following Nasrallah’s death, it was widely known that Safieddine was already in control and running the group’s affairs, though the official acting leader was his deputy, Naim Kassem.

It’s not clear who will end up taking Hezbollah’s top job now, especially since another leading candidate, Nabil Kaouk, was also killed in an Israeli strike hours after Nasrallah’s death.

Like Nasrallah, Safieddine held the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Since its founding during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah has been led by a cleric.

During a funeral in a Beirut suburb last month for Hezbollah members who were killed in the exploding pagers attack, Safieddine vowed that Hezbollah would not bow down and would fight back.

“This aggression will definitely face its special punishment. This punishment is definitely coming,” Safieddine said.

During the ceremony, several walkie-talkies exploded wounding people nearby. Safieddine stayed at the funeral until the end, despite the new round of blasts.

Safieddine was close to Iran. His son, Rida, is married to Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in 2020.

Safieddine’s brother, Abdallah, is Hezbollah’s point man in Tehran, a crucial role in the organization given that Iran is its main backer, providing it with weapons and money.

In May 2017, the U.S. and some of its Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, imposed sanctions on 10 top Hezbollah officials including Nasrallah, Kassem and Safieddine.

Jerusalem:

Israel’s army confirmed Tuesday it “eliminated” Hezbollah’s Hashem Safieddine, apparent successor of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike in a southern Beirut suburb three weeks ago.

“It can now be confirmed that in an attack approximately three weeks ago, Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, and Ali Hussein Hazima, the head of Hezbollah’s Intelligence Directorate, were killed along with other Hezbollah commanders,” the army said in a statement.

Hezbollah has not yet issued a statement regarding the claim.  

Read | Israel Claims It Found $500 Million In “Secret” Hezbollah Bunker In Beirut

On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the military has “taken out” Safieddine, without specifically naming him.

In an address to the people of Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israeli forces “took out thousands of terrorists, including (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement and the replacement of his replacement.”

Late on Tuesday, the army said that Israel’s air force “conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah’s main intelligence headquarters,” in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital three weeks ago.

The statement added that over 25 militants of Hezbollah were present in the headquarters during the strike, “including Bilal Saib Aish, who was in charge of aerial intelligence gathering”.

Read | Hezbollah Airs Audio Recording From Ex Chief Killed In Israeli Strikes

A member of Hezbollah’s decision-making body and a distant relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine was out of contact since Israeli strikes on Beirut weeks ago, a high-level Hezbollah source said at the time.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP in early October that the deeply religious cleric Safieddine, who had good relations with Hezbollah backer Iran, was the “most likely” candidate for the party’s top job.

Grey-bearded and bespectacled, Safieddine bore a striking resemblance to his distant cousin Nasrallah, but was several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s.

“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership”, the Israeli army’s chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a statement late on Tuesday after the confirmation of Safieddine’s death.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Smoke billows over Beirut southern suburbs after a strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them.

“We have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message.

Mr. Netanyahu did not identify by name Nasrallah’s replacement that he claimed Israel had killed.

A Hezbollah official said on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Nasrallah’s potential successor Hashem Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday.

Israel killed Nasrallah in a September air strike on Beirut.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Nasrallah’s replacement had probably been “eliminated”.

It was not immediately clear who Netanyahu meant in his comments by the “replacement of the replacement”.

“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” Mr. Netanyahu said in his video message, which was directed at the people of Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel last Oct. 8, a day after Hamas Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza. Hezbollah cited solidarity with Hamas.

Some 60,000 Israeli citizens in the country’s north have been forced to leave their homes, while Israel’s stated objective is to make its northern areas safe from Hezbollah rocket fire and allow those displaced residents to return.

“Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel also has a right to win. And Israel will win,” Netanyahu said.

He urged Lebanon to “take back your country” and return it to a path of peace and prosperity and take advantage of an opportunity that hasn’t existed in decades.

“If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war,” he added. “Christians, Druze, Muslims — Sunnis and Shiites — all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.

“Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done,” Netanyahu added. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way.”