Tel Aviv says it killed another top Hezbollah figure. Hashem Safieddine tipped as successor to Nasrallah. Pakistan condemns killing of Hezbollah leader.
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT/ISLAMABAD - Israel struck more targets in Lebanon on Sunday, pressing Hezbollah with new attacks after killing the Iran-backed group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a string of its other top commanders in an escalating military campaign.
The attacks have dealt a stunning succession of blows to Hezbollah after almost a year of cross-border fire, killing much of its leadership and revealing gaping security holes. Israel’s defence minister is now discussing widening the offensive. Following the death of Nasrallah - killed in a massive airstrike in Beirut on Friday - Hezbollah fired new fusillades of rockets into Israel, while Iran said his death would be avenged.
Israel’s intensifying bombardment has increased fears the conflict could spin out of control, potentially drawing in Iran as well as the United States, Israel’s closest ally, which said on Sunday it has authorised its military to reinforce in the region while also urging a diplomatic resolution.
Nasrallah had not only made Hezbollah into a powerful domestic force in Lebanon during his 32 years as leader, but helped turn it into the linchpin of Iran’s network of allied groups in the Arab world.
Nasrallah’s body was recovered intact from the site of Friday’s strike, a medical source and a security source told wire service on Sunday. Hezbollah has not yet said when his funeral will be held.
Supporters of the group and other Lebanese who hailed its role fighting Israel, which occupied south Lebanon for years, mourned him on Sunday.
“We lost the leader who gave us all the strength and faith that we, this small country that we love, could turn it into a paradise,” said Lebanese Christian woman Sophia Blanche Rouillard, carrying a black flag to work in Beirut.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 1,000 Lebanese were killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people - a fifth of the population - had fled their homes.
The Health Ministry said 14 medics had been killed in airstrikes over the past two days.
In Beirut, some displaced families spent the night on the benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront. On Sunday morning, families with nothing more than a duffle bag of clothes had rolled out mats to sleep on and made tea for themselves.
“You won’t be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people - we will stay here. We won’t leave. This is our country and we’re staying,” said Francoise Azori, a Beirut resident jogging through the area.
The UN World Food Programme began an emergency operation to provide food for those affected by the conflict.
On Sunday Israel’s military said the air force had struck dozens of targets including launchers and weapons stores while its navy said it had intercepted eight projectiles coming from the direction of Lebanon and one from the Red Sea.
More blasts rocked Beirut and drones could be heard flying over all parts of the Lebanese capital overnight and throughout the day on Sunday.
Nasrallah’s death capped a traumatic fortnight for Hezbollah, starting with the detonation of thousands of communications devices used by its members. Israel was widely assumed to have carried out that action but has not confirmed or denied it did.
Israeli airstrikes across Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, and in Beirut’s southern suburbs have meanwhile killed a string of the group’s other most senior commanders.
On Sunday Israel said it had killed Nabil Kaouk, a prominent Hezbollah leader. Hezbollah confirmed his death.
Concerns have grown about the prospect of a wider conflict. Israel has mobilized reserve brigades and says it is ready for all options, including a ground operation.
Hezbollah has said it will cease fire only when Israel’s offensive in Gaza ends. Hamas and other Hezbollah allies issued statements mourning his death.
Diplomatic efforts have shown little sign of progress. Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday that efforts for a ceasefire were still underway.
The US, which has praised the killing of Nasrallah as a measure of justice for victims of Hezbollah attacks, on Sunday urged a peaceful resolution.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran would not help residents of northern Israel return to their homes.
“We believe that a diplomatic path is the right course,” he said.
In Iran, which helped create Hezbollah in the early 1980s, senior figures mourned the death of a senior Revolutionary Guards member killed alongside Nasrallah, and Tehran called for a UN Security Council meeting on Israel’s actions.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was moved to a secure location in Iran after Nasrallah’s killing, sources told wire service.
Meannwhile, Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to his slain cousin Hassan Nasrallah, is one of Hezbollah’s most prominent figures and has deep religious and family ties to Iran.
Safieddine bears a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah but is several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s. A source close to Hezbollah said the grey-bearded, bespectacled Safieddine was the “most likely” candidate for party’s top job.
As head of the executive council, Safieddine oversees Hezbollah’s political affairs. Safieddine’s public statements often reflect Hezbollah’s militant stance and its alignment with the Palestinian cause. At a recent event in Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, he declared, “Our history, our guns and our rockets are with you,” in a show of solidarity with Palestinian fighters.
The United States and Saudi Arabia put Safieddine, who is a member of Hezbollah’s powerful decision-making Shura Council, on their respective lists of designated “terrorists” in 2017. The US Treasury described him as “a senior leader” in Hezbollah and “a key member” of its executive.
He has also been vocal in his criticism of US policy. In response to American pressure on Hezbollah, he stated in 2017, “This mentally impeded, crazy US administration headed by Trump will not be able to harm the resistance,” asserting that such actions would only strengthen Hezbollah’s resolve.
While Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem automatically takes over the Hezbollah leadership after Nasrallah’s death, the Shura Council must meet to elect a new secretary general. Safieddine has strong ties with Iran after undertaking religious studies in the holy city of Qom.
His son is married to the daughter of General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm who was killed in a 2020 US strike in Iraq. Unlike Nasrallah, who lived in hiding for years, Safieddine has appeared openly at recent political and religious events.
Usually presenting a calm demeanour, he has upped the fiery rhetoric during the funerals of Hezbollah fighters killed in nearly a year of cross-border clashes with Israel. Nasrallah said his forces were acting in support of Hamas fighters.
Meanwhile, Pakistan yesterday said the ‘reckless act of killing’ the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon constitutes a major escalation in the already volatile region.
Pakistan strongly condemned the growing Israeli adventurism in the Middle East and warned the unbridled attacks on civilian populations and disregard of international law have reached alarming levels.
“For the last several days, Israeli forces have engaged in unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, relentlessly targeting civilian population centers, and undermining its stability and security. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of Israeli aggression and the people of Lebanon,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.
She added: “Yesterday’s reckless act of killing the Secretary General of Hezbollah in Lebanon constitutes a major escalation in an already volatile region. Pakistan continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Lebanon. We urge the United Nations Security Council to restrain Israel from its adventurism in the region and violations of international law; and restore peace in the Middle East.”
Hassan Nasrallah’s death on September 27 evening, during a massive Israeli attack on southern Beirut, marks the passing of the man who embodied the Lebanese Shia movement in the eyes of its supporters and the wider region.