Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah's Successor Hashem Safieddine Goes Missing: Reports

Israel-Iran War: Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah’s successor Hashem Safieddine has reportedly went missing, a Reuters report said on Saturday. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Southern Lebanon earlier this week. The former Hezbollah chief was hiding in a bunker beneath a building.

Now, as the Lebanon’s terror outfit Hezbollah looks to appoint new chief, Hashem Safieddine has gone missing. Reports say that Safieddine was killed in another strike in southern Beirut on Thursday.

Hezbollah remains mum on Safieddine

Hezbollah has made no comment so far on Safieddine.

The loss of Nasrallah's rumoured successor would be another blow to Hezbollah and its patron Iran. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have decimated Hezbollah's leadership.

Israel expanded its conflict in Lebanon on Saturday with its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli, a Lebanese security official said, after more bombs hit Beirut suburbs and Israeli troops launched raids in the south.

The video showed soldiers moving from house to house, with damage visible to properties in the area.

Israel begins ground invasion of Lebanon 

Earlier On Tuesday, Israel began a ground incursion into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group while also conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children.

The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage.

Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,800 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

With inputs from agencies