Nasrallah’s possible successor ‘out of contact’ after Israeli air strike

Published October 6, 2024
Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 5, 2024. — Reuters
Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 5, 2024. — Reuters

BEIRUT: The potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source said on Saturday, after an Israeli air strike that is reported to have targeted him.

In its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Thursday that, according to Israeli officials, targeted Hashem Safieddine in an underground bunker.

The Lebanese security source said that ongoing Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburb — known as Dahiyeh — since Friday have kept rescue workers from scouring the site of the attack.

Hezbollah made no comment on Safieddine since the attack.

An Israeli spokesperson said the military was still assessing the Thursday night air strikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.

The loss of Nasrallah’s rumoured successor would be yet another blow to Hezbollah and Iran.

Israel expanded its conflict in Lebanon on Saturday with its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli.

Israel has begun an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon and sent troops across the border in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Hezbollah. Fighting had previously been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area. Israel says it aims to allow the safe return of tens of thousands of its citizens to their homes in northern Israel, bombarded by Hezbollah since Oct 8 last year.

The Israeli assault has killed hundreds of ordinary Lebanese, including rescue workers, and forced 1.2 million people — almost a quarter of the population — to leave their homes.

The Lebanese security official said Saturday’s strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group also said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Electricity relief
Updated 05 Apr, 2025

Electricity relief

If govt ensures that requisite power reforms are implemented, it will earn much praise for reforming a vital segment of the economy.
Trump’s trade wars
Updated 05 Apr, 2025

Trump’s trade wars

Shoddy math applied by US to indiscriminately penalise its trading partners signals the end of an era of global trade liberalisation.
Legalised land grab
Updated 05 Apr, 2025

Legalised land grab

The Modi government from its inception has been attacking India’s minorities, the largest such community in its crosshairs being the Muslims.
More than words
Updated 04 Apr, 2025

More than words

Holistic development can only work when there is organic and credible political activity in the province.
Poor publicity
04 Apr, 2025

Poor publicity

FORTUNE does not seem to be favouring the PTI — at least not yet. With the party’s founder confined from public...
Party pooper
04 Apr, 2025

Party pooper

INDIA’s role of a spoilsport is tiresome. From pulling books from shelves, such as Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: ...