Israel targets potential Hezbollah successor in Beirut airstrike, report claims
Beirut (Quds News Network)- Israel conducted a targeted airstrike in Beirut on Wednesday night against the head of Hezbollah’s executive committee Hashim Safi al-Din, three Israeli officials claimed.
Safi al-Din is the leading figure to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as Hezbollah’s leader.
An Israeli official told Axios that Safi al-Din was in a bunker deep underground and it isn’t yet clear whether he was killed in the strike.
The US State Department listed Safi al-Din as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2017.
The strike took place in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
According to Lebanese press reports, the Israeli strike was far larger than the one that killed Nasrallah last week.
Reports also said that the strikes hit and completely flattened a number of residential buildings in the southern suburbs, which have been the main target of Israel’s nightly bombings of the Lebanese capital.
Israeli occupation aircraft bombard the southern suburbs of Beirut indiscriminately. pic.twitter.com/s2LXcxKOci
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 3, 2024
Israeli journalist Bitton Rosen of Channel 14 first shared the news on X, formerly Twitter.
Rosen wrote: “As we first reported: the attack in Beirut was aimed at Nasrallah’s successor, Safi al-Din. From what I understand, this is definitely a positive direction.”
כפי שפרסמנו לראשונה: התקיפה בביירות כוונה למחליפו של נסראללה האשם סאפי א-דין.
ממה שאני מבין, זה בהחלט בכיוון חיובי.— הלל ביטון רוזן | Hallel Bitton Rosen (@BittonRosen) October 3, 2024
