Israel and Hezbollah Confirm the Death of Hashim Safi al-Din

Israel confirmed three weeks after an attack on the underground headquarters of Hezbollah in southern Beirut that Hashim Safi al-Din, a potential successor to the former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in this attack. The Israeli army announced on Tuesday, October 23, that at the time of the attack in the Dahieh area of southern Beirut, 25 Hezbollah members were alongside Hashim Safi al-Din. Earlier, the Israeli army had stated that he was likely killed in its airstrikes, but yesterday officially confirmed his death. Hezbollah Lebanon confirmed on Wednesday, October 24, that Hashim Safi al-Din was killed as a result of the Israeli attack three weeks ago. Hashim Safi al-Din, 60, a cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, was targeted in another Israeli airstrike on October 4, just six days after the death of the Hezbollah Secretary-General, and since then, there had been no information about his fate. He previously held the position of head of the Executive Council of the group. His brother Abdullah is also the representative of this group in Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, stated on October 9 without naming Hashim Safi al-Din that Israel had killed the 'successor of Hassan Nasrallah.' In a video message released at that time, Netanyahu said, 'We have destroyed Hezbollah's capabilities. We have eliminated thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and his successor and the successor of his successor.' However, it is unclear who Netanyahu meant by 'the successor of the successor' of the killed Hezbollah Secretary-General. Just hours before Netanyahu's video was released, Yoav Galant, the Israeli Defense Minister, also referred to Hashim Safi al-Din as Nasrallah's successor, stating that he was likely killed. Zainab, the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed by the U.S. military on Donald Trump's orders, is the daughter-in-law of Hashim Safi al-Din and the wife of his son Reza. This marriage exemplifies the close relations between Iranian leaders and Hezbollah Lebanon, which acts as one of the most important proxy arms of the Islamic Republic in the region. Following the unexpected death of Hassan Nasrallah, the former Secretary-General of Hezbollah Lebanon, on whom Iran had made significant material and spiritual investments, the discussion of Safi al-Din's succession became very heated. Abbas Nilforushan, a senior commander of the Quds Force, was also killed in the recent tensions between Israel and Hezbollah Lebanon, and his death, along with Nasrallah's and Ismail Haniyeh's, the former political chief of the extremist group Hamas, led to the second missile attack by the Islamic Republic on Israel. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began after this group fired missiles into northern Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, one day after the deadly attack by the extremist group Hamas on southern Israel. Since late September of this year, Israel has intensified military operations against Hezbollah and began ground operations in Lebanon on October 10. Most of Israel's airstrikes in the past month have targeted the Dahieh area in southern Beirut, which the Israeli army claims is the command center of Hezbollah Lebanon.