Hashem Saffiedine will replace Hassan Nasrallah as head of Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. Destroyed by Israel in its air raid on BeirutSaffieddin is a cousin of Nasrallah, who served as head of the group for 32 years.
Reports surfaced on Saturday said that Saffieddin has also been killed in the Israeli bombing in Lebanon. However, Reuters quoted a source in the organization as saying that he is alive.
He physically resembles Nasralla and joined the group with his cousin in the early days. Born in 1964 in Deir Qanoun al-Nahar in southern Lebanon, Saffieddine has been Named as Nasrallah’s successor since the 1990s When he was recalled from Iran to Beirut, where he was pursuing his studies.
Saffieddine, who was designated a terrorist by the United States in 2017, oversees Hezbollah’s political affairs and is a member of the group’s Jihad Council. He also has ties to the Iranian regime as the father-in-law of Zainab Soleimani, the daughter of slain Iranian military general Qassem Soleimani. He was blacklisted by Saudi Arabia in the same year for supporting the Syrian regime.
There were celebrations in Syria after the news of Nasrallah’s death emerged. People view Hezbollah as an enemy because the terrorist group has helped President Bashar al-Assad suppress the Syrian revolution.
As head of the Executive Council, Saffieddin oversees Hezbollah’s political affairs. He also sits on the Jihad Council, which manages the group’s military operations. Over the past 30 years, he has overseen Hezbollah’s civilian operations, including its education system and finances. Meanwhile, Nasrallah looked after the group’s strategic affairs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that he had ordered Nasrallah’s elimination, saying that his death became a “necessary condition” for Israel to achieve its war goals. He also described Nasrallah’s death as a “historic turning point”.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world.”
Notably, the IDF claimed to have deposed another top Hezbollah leader. IDF said so Hassan Khalil Yassin, who led a unit in Hezbollah’s intelligence division Which was entrusted with the task of locating Israeli military and civilian sites to be targeted in Israel, was also eliminated.