Israel said Tuesday that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed a Hezbollah official widely expected to replace the longtime leader of the militant group who was killed by an Israeli airstrike last month. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah about the fate of Hashem Safieddine, a powerful cleric who was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group's founders, the AP reports.
- Safieddine was killed in early October in a strike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders, according to Israel, whose airstrikes in southern Lebanon in recent months have killed many of Hezbollah's top leaders, leaving the group in disarray.
- The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday, including one that leveled a building Israel said housed Hezbollah facilities. The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred yards from where a spokesperson for Hezbollah had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged the Israeli prime minister's house.
- The strike came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah. The Hezbollah press conference nearby was cut short, and an AP photographer captured an image of a missile heading towards the building moments before it was destroyed.
(The Israeli military
said Sunday that it planned to attack "a large number of targets" connected to Hezbollah's financial unit.)
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