Amid Israel’s ongoing war to eliminate the terrorist groups who wish to wipe out the Jewish state has escalated, with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly targeting the likely successor to the Hezbollah leader that they killed last week in an airstrike.
In response to Hezbollah firing more than 8,100 missiles, rockets, and drones at Israel in the year since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 25 successfully eliminated the leader of Hezbollah, Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world. pic.twitter.com/gBWxK9FW2F
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 28, 2024
Nasrallah’s likely successor, his cousin Hashem Safieddine, was hiding in one of the Iranian-backed terrorist organization’s deepest bunkers — but he didn’t last long. On Thursday, the terrorist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
In a statement about the airstrike, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) senior research analyst Joe Truzman declared it to be “embarrassing” that Iran and Hezbollah have not yet been able to figure out how Israel has been easily locating and targeting terrorist commanders and eliminating them at will.
“Hezbollah media relations has not made any statements on the reported targeting of Hashem Saffedine by the Israeli military in Beirut’s Dahieh,” Truzman added. “The longer they take to say something, the likelihood he was at the site increases.”
Reported site in Beirut that was struck by the Israeli military. The target of the attack was an underground site where Hashem Saffedine may have been located. pic.twitter.com/mEwiJf2cXh
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) October 3, 2024
According to the Wall Street Journal, Safieddine was the leader of Hezbollah’s executive council, the political part of the terror group. His son was married to the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian commander and terrorist who was eliminated by the Trump administration in 2020 using a drone strike.
“This drastically adds to Hezbollah’s humiliation within its community, and further erodes the trust between its ranks,” explained Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It also means that Israel won’t stop or even shift gears after Nasrallah’s assassination.”
This latest successful airstrike comes as Israel has effectively decimated the ranks of the terrorist organization, eliminating nearly every top Hezbollah official and commander in the year following the October 7 massacre committed by Hezbollah’s ally, Hamas.
⭕️ Over the last 4 days, the IDF has eliminated 2,000+ military targets and 250 Hezbollah terrorists. Among them:
– 5 battalion commanders
– 10 company commanders
– 6 platoon commandersThe Israeli Air Force is also conducting preemptive strikes during these… pic.twitter.com/VLvcuefOTX
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 4, 2024
