The IDF confirmed this Tuesday evening, October 22, that it had killed this cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, among the favorites to become the new leader of the Lebanese armed group, in a strike on Beirut in early October.
He was one of the most serious contenders to take over as leader of Hezbollah. This Tuesday evening, October 22, the Israeli army claims to have “eliminated” Hachem Safieddine, potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah at the head of the Lebanese group, in a strike on Beirut in early October, three weeks earlier.
“We can now confirm that during a strike approximately three weeks ago, Hachem Safieddine, head of the Executive Council of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, was killed” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the IDF said in a statement. In this strike, the army said it also killed Ali Hussein Hazima, a senior Hezbollah official. The Lebanese movement did not immediately react to this announcement.
“We had Nasrallah, his replacement and most of the senior leaders of Hezbollah”said General Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israeli army in a statement, as Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27. “We will hit anyone who threatens the security of the citizens of the State of Israel”adds the press release, taking up a leitmotif of Israeli military leaders.
“The most likely candidate”
With gray beard, glasses and black turban of the “sayyed” – the descendants of Mohammed – Hachem Safieddine, aged around sixty, bore a striking resemblance to his cousin Hassan Nasrallah. He was, according to a source close to Hezbollah, “the most likely candidate” to succeed him at the head of the Shiite movement financed and armed by Iran.
A Hezbollah official told AFP on October 5 that contact with Safieddine had been “lost” since Israeli strikes near Beirut the day before. On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a video addressed to the Lebanese that Israel had “eliminated thousands of terrorists including Nasrallah and Nasrallah’s replacement and his replacement’s replacement”.
Speaking on television after the publication of this video, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli army, confirmed the strike on a “headquarters” Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut. “We know that Safieddine was there”he added without confirming his death, until Tuesday.
Source: www.liberation.fr
