Hezbollah loses contact with senior leader Hashem Safieddine: Sources

Hashem Safieddine was reportedly wrong Hezbollah’s underground quality office during an Israeli aerial strike.

Hezbollah has mislaid interaction with 1 of its elder leaders, Hashem Safieddine, who was seen arsenic a imaginable successor to slain person Hassan Nasrallah, since Friday aft an Israeli aerial onslaught connected Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood, a Lebanese information root told Al Jazeera.

As the president of the equipped group’s Executive Council, Safieddine is simply a precise high-ranking subordinate of the organisation. He is simply a relative of the precocious Nasrallah, the erstwhile secretary-general, said Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Beirut.

Jabbari said determination was a “sense of urgency” from Lebanese and Hezbollah officials to let rescue teams successful the country to retrieve bodies from the onslaught connected Friday morning.

She added that astir Hezbollah commanders are “shadowy”, with Safieddine’s sanction lone coming to airy aft galore believed that helium would perchance win Nasrallah, who was killed successful an Israeli aerial onslaught past month, arsenic Hezbollah’s secretary-general.

“Now, with the anticipation of him besides being assassinated, it leaves successful question the contented of succession wrong the organisation,” Jabbari explained.

‘Intelligence breach’

But the deficiency of interaction with Safieddine besides proves that determination is an quality breach wrong the group, “allowing Israel to find and onslaught 1 person aft another,” Al Jazeera governmental expert Marwan Bishara said.

Nader Hashemi, subordinate prof of Middle East and Islamic Politics astatine Georgetown University, says losing interaction with Nasrallah’s successor is “another superior and important setback for Hezbollah”.

“The wording that they’ve mislaid interaction with him is an effort to hole Hezbollah supporters with the coming announcement that helium has been confirmed dead,” helium told Al Jazeera from Ottawa, Canada.

On Friday, the Reuters quality bureau reported that Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the subject was inactive assessing the aftermath of the aerial strike, which helium confirmed targeted Hezbollah’s quality headquarters.

Hezbollah has not officially commented connected the presumption of Safieddine since the attack.

Israel launched an aggravated bombing run crossed Lebanon 2 weeks ago, arsenic it turned absorption to its bluish borderline aft a twelvemonth of cross-border exchanges that forced thousands of civilians to fly from some sides of the border. Israel aims to unafraid the harmless instrumentality of its nationals to their homes successful bluish Israel arsenic it pounds Hezbollah positions.

Last week, Israel launched a “limited crushed operation” into confederate Lebanon portion intensifying aerial strikes successful the country and Beirut’s confederate suburbs.

The Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military, that 9 soldiers person truthful acold been killed successful crushed clashes with Hezbollah fighters.

According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, much than 2,000 radical person been killed during Israel’s aggravated bombardment connected the state and forced 1.2 cardinal radical to fly their homes.