Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: In the relentless ground assault in Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed Hashem Safieddine, who succeeded the slain Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah just four days ago, the media reported on Saturday.
An Iranian Commander, Esmael Ghani, was also reported wounded in the same attack.
According to reports, Safieddine, Nasrallah’s cousin, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday, less than a week after the Hezbollah chief was killed in the Lebanese capital.
Safieddine was killed in the IDF operation targeting him and other high-ranking members of the terror group gathered in an underground bunker.
The Israeli military strike targeted a meeting of the remaining senior Hezbollah officials in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing Saudi news outlet Al Hadath.
Esmail Ghaani, Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC)’s Quds Force, was likely present and injured alongside Safieddine, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
Safieddine, who oversaw military operations as head of the Iran-backed Shia terror group’s executive council, was designated as a terrorist by the US State Department in 2017.
Report of his killing came as Israeli troops started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of bombing of areas across the country where the terror group holds sway.
Both sides exchanged fire in recent weeks as the Israeli military targeted Hezbollah’s infrastructure and personnel, claiming to have killed numerous militants.
The Israeli military is believed to be planning a ‘significant response’ to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack, which involved nearly 200 missiles and caused damage to some locations across Israel. The IDF said the attack will “have consequences.” While the military reported damage from the missile strikes, it claimed that no aircraft or critical infrastructure were directly hit.
Israeli officials stressed that their forthcoming response against Iran will be “serious and significant,” as tensions escalate in the region, The Times of Israel reported. The IDF confirmed that nine Israeli soldiers died in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel promptly declared war on the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. In the last year, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory.
As Israel launched a ground attack in southern Lebanon, nearly 2,000 people have been killed most of them since September 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.