Situation at a glance: Israel confirms killing of suspected Nasrallah successor

Israel’s military has confirmed the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s presumed successor and continued its attacks on the pro-Iranian militia in Lebanon. Hashim Safi al-Din was killed around three weeks ago in an attack on the headquarters of the Hezbollah secret service in a suburb of the capital Beirut, the military said in the evening. The Shiite militia has not yet confirmed his death.

Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant emphasized at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the evening that Hezbollah would continue to be fought after the “targeted operations” in Lebanon were completed until the militia had been driven out of the border area and the residents who had fled northern Israel could return safely.

Safi al-Din was a member of Hezbollah’s so-called Shura Council, Hezbollah’s highest-ranking military-political body, the Israeli army said. This is responsible for the decision-making and political shaping of the terrorist organization. In the air strike in Lebanon’s capital around three weeks ago, in addition to Safi al-Din, Ali Hussein Hasima, the commander of Hezbollah’s secret service, was also killed. He was responsible for directing numerous attacks on Israel’s soldiers.

Blinken continues Middle East talks

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Blinken continues his trip to the Middle East. At a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, he called for seizing the opportunities presented by the killing of Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar in the embattled Gaza Strip. His spokesman Matthew Miller quoted him as saying that this could lead to the release of the Israeli hostages from the power of Hamas, which is allied with Hezbollah, and to an end to the war in Gaza. Blinken emphasized the importance of finding new ways for the post-war period so that Palestinians and Israelis can live in long-term security.

According to his spokesman, Blinken called on Israel’s government to allow more humanitarian aid for the suffering civilian population in the sealed-off Gaza Strip. Netanyahu’s office did not address this in its account of the conversation. The Israeli military authority Cogat, which is responsible for Palestinian affairs, announced that in the past eight days, 237 trucks with aid supplies had arrived in northern Gaza, which is particularly affected by shortages. However, according to aid organizations, this is not enough to feed the starving population.

Deaths again in Lebanon

Meanwhile, several people were killed in renewed Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The Lebanese Health Ministry said five people were killed and 10 others injured in an attack in the northeast of the country. According to authorities, five people were killed and 21 others injured in another attack near Nabatija in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military again called for evacuations late in the evening in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahija.

Israel’s air force had already attacked buildings there in the afternoon. Hezbollah continued to shell Israel. Around 140 projectiles were fired from Lebanon, the Israeli army said late in the evening. Details were not initially given.

The militia allied with Iran has declared that it will only stop its attacks once a ceasefire has been agreed for Gaza. However, there has been no progress for months in negotiations mediated by the USA, Egypt and Qatar. The killing of Hamas leader Sinwar last week has not changed this.

Israel: Reach all our enemies

“Severe damage” had been done to Hezbollah’s command structure, said the commander responsible for Israel’s northern sector, Ori Gordin. “Wherever we have been involved in fighting, we have prevailed. We are determined to reach every tunnel shaft, every underground area and every weapons cache – to destroy or confiscate them,” Gordin was quoted as saying in an army statement.

After confirming Safi al-Din’s death, Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said Israel would reach out to all its enemies. “We have reached Nasrallah, his successor and most of the Hezbollah leadership. We will know how to reach anyone who threatens the security of Israeli citizens,” the Times of Israel quoted him as saying. According to the army, more than 25 members of Hezbollah’s intelligence service were there at the time of the attack on the militia’s headquarters around three weeks ago.

Safi al-Din – also known as Safieddine in a paraphrased version – as head of the Executive Council has long been one of the most important figures within the militia’s leadership. He was around 60 years old – his exact age is unknown. He is said to have been trained in Iran in the 1980s. He was Nasrallah’s cousin on his mother’s side and, according to the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, the father of the son-in-law of powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq by a US drone strike in 2020.

During the times when Nasrallah was not in Lebanon, Safi al-Din took over the role of secretary general, the Israeli military said. He directed terrorist attacks against Israel. The United States, along with Saudi Arabia, declared him a terrorist in 2017. They hold him responsible, among other things, for a suicide attack on the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut, in which a total of 241 US soldiers were killed in 1983.

Safi al-Din called for the destruction of Israel

Apart from Nasrallah, Israel’s military has so far primarily killed military commanders, but not members of the militia’s upper political ranks. The organization may have suffered its worst blows in decades, but it is likely to continue the conflict with Israel – albeit significantly weakened. Last year, Safi al-Din said: “It may take one war, two wars, three wars” and require “multiple confrontations,” but ultimately Israel must be destroyed.

However, Israel is determined to defend itself against its enemies. After the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s elite force, fired around 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state in early October, Israel announced retaliation. However, it remains unclear when and how Israel will strike back against Iran. After the publication of US intelligence information about Israel’s retaliation plans, the US Federal Police FBI is investigating. The USA is Israel’s most important ally.