Senior Hezbollah chief Hashem Safieddine attends a funeral in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, on September 18, 2024. | Picture credit score: AP
Hashem Safieddine, a strongman who rose via the ranks of the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over many years to turn out to be the second strongest individual inside the group, has died.
Safieddine, who was in his 60s, was killed in early October in a collection of Israeli airstrikes on a southern suburb of Beirut that shook a lot of the Lebanese capital, as a part of Israel’s marketing campaign in opposition to Hezbollah. Israel mentioned on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) that Safieddine had been killed within the assaults; Hezbollah confirmed the loss of life on Wednesday (October 23, 2024).
Safieddine’s loss of life got here as he was anticipated to be chosen because the group’s subsequent chief following the loss of life of Hassan Nasrallah, one in all its founders.
Safieddine, Nasrallah’s maternal cousin, had spent years getting ready for the job, however the announcement was sluggish to return after the Sept. 27 airstrike within the Beirut suburbs that killed Nasrallah, a part of a collection of blows by Israel that had left Hezbollah in disarray.
Safieddine, a black-turbaned cleric with a thick grey beard who bore a hanging resemblance to Nasrallah, was identified for his defiant speeches wherein he promised that Hezbollah would proceed combating Israel irrespective of the associated fee.
A well-known face in Lebanon and a pacesetter with shut ties to Iran, he was a member of the group’s decision-making Shura Council and its Jihad Council, which acts as its navy command. He additionally headed its Govt Council, which runs faculties and social packages.
Safieddine’s loss of life comes at a fragile time for Hezbollah. Within the wake of its ally Hamas’ October 7 assault on Israel and Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah started firing rockets, drones and missiles at Israel, and have exchanged fireplace recurrently since.
However current weeks have seen a big escalation, with Israel finishing up a collection of assaults in opposition to senior Hezbollah commanders and apparently blowing up hundreds of communications units utilized by members of the group. It has since launched a floor invasion into Lebanon that it says goals to drive Hezbollah militants from the border.
Regardless of the shortage of a proper announcement following Nasrallah’s loss of life, it was broadly identified that Safieddine was already in management and directing the group’s affairs, though the official interim chief was his deputy, Naim Kassem.
It’s unclear who will find yourself taking Hezbollah’s prime job now, particularly since one other distinguished candidate, Nabil Kaouk, was additionally killed in an Israeli strike hours after Nasrallah’s loss of life.
Like Nasrallah, Safieddine held the title of sayyid, an honorific title signifying the Shiite cleric’s lineage courting again to the Prophet Muhammad, the founding father of Islam. Since its founding throughout the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah has been led by a cleric.
Throughout a funeral in a Beirut suburb final month for Hezbollah members who died within the beeper assault, Safieddine vowed that Hezbollah wouldn’t bow down and would battle again.
“This aggression will certainly face its particular punishment. This punishment will certainly come,” Safieddine mentioned.
Through the ceremony, a number of walkie-talkies exploded, injuring folks close by. Safieddine remained on the funeral till the tip, regardless of the brand new spherical of explosions.
Safieddine was near Iran. His son, Rida, is married to Zeinab Soleimani, daughter of Basic Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Drive, who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2020.
Safieddine’s brother Abdallah is Hezbollah’s level man in Tehran, a vital function within the group on condition that Iran is its predominant sponsor, offering it with weapons and cash.
In Might 2017, america and a few of its Arab allies, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, imposed sanctions on 10 senior Hezbollah officers, together with Nasrallah, Kassem and Safieddine.
Printed – October 23, 2024 09:10 pm IST