Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah leader and Hassan Nasrallah’s likely heir, was killed in an airstrike on southern Beirut in early October, according to Israel.

Safieddine was a prominent political figure and the leader of Hezbollah’s executive council.

Three weeks prior, Safieddine and Ali Hussein Hazima, the chief of Hezbollah’s intelligence section, were killed in airstrikes in the Dahiyeh area, the Israeli military said Tuesday night. Twenty-five additional commanders were also slain in the bombing.

With continuous bombings and confrontations along the Israel-Lebanon border, Hezbollah and Israel are engaged in more intense combat, which coincides with this blow to the organization’s leadership.

Hezbollah has not yet responded on Safieddine’s passing.

The only surviving member of Hezbollah’s top leadership who interacts with the public after Safieddine’s passing is Naim Qassem, the organization’s deputy secretary general. Although Qassem has been Hezbollah’s spokesperson since Nasrallah’s murder, he does not have the same level of support among followers as the previous secretary general.

We spoke with the majority of Hezbollah’s leadership as well as his replacement, [Hassan] Nasrallah. According to The Times of Israel, IDF Chief of Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi stated in military-provided statements, “We will know how to reach anyone who threatens the security of Israel’s citizens.”

In early October, a Hezbollah insider informed AFP that Safieddine was the “most likely” candidate to lead the group.

Tuesday, October 22, 2024, saw an Israeli bombing close to the medical facility in southern Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in a broken window in the Rafik Hariri University Hospital building.

Hezbollah launched missiles into Israel on October 8, 2023, in “solidarity” with Hamas’s strike on Israel the previous day, sparking the start of the confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel. Following Israel’s beginning of “Operation Northern Arrows” on September 23, hostilities have significantly increased.

More than 11,850 people have been injured and over 2,500 people have died in Lebanon in the last 12 months.

Israel attacked and murdered Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar in Gaza last week.

Israeli bombings in Dahiyeh on Monday night injured 60 people and killed 18 people, including four children, in Greater Beirut.