The successor to the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is suddenly out of contact after Israel targeted him in a strike in Lebanon.
Hashem Safieddine is presumed to be dead, according to the Jerusalem Post:
The chances that Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor of former Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, was killed along with those with him in an Israeli strike in southern Beirut on Friday are increasing, an unnamed official told Sky News Arabia.
A Lebanese security source told Sky News Arabia that the chances of anyone surviving the targeted strike were “almost zero.”
The Saudi news organization Al Hadath had previously reported that Safieddine was dead on Saturday morning.
The Saudi outlet claimed that Israel had confirmed the elimination, but The Jerusalem Post has not yet been able to verify the Saudi report.
The Times of Israel reports that Safieddine has been out of contact since the attack:
The potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source said on Saturday, after an Israeli airstrike that is reported to have targeted him.
In its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group, Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Thursday, which, according to Israeli officials cited by Axios, targeted Hashem Safieddine in an underground bunker.
Channel 12 reported Friday night that security officials were increasingly confident he had been killed.
The IDF said on Friday it was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which it said targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.
The worst job in the world right now is becoming the new leader of Hezbollah. It’s essentially a death sentence and I can’t imagine anyone wants that job. Good!
Well, he was the primary target, after all…