3 Hezbollah leaders killed in 48 hours
TEL AVIV/JERUSALEM/CAIRO—Israel’s military said it had killed three Hezbollah commanders and some 70 fighters in southern Lebanon in the past 48 hours, a day after confirming it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the militant group’s heir apparent leader.
“In southern Lebanon, IDF troops continue conducting limited, localized, targeted raids against Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and operatives,” the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said in a statement.
“Over the past day, the troops eliminated approximately 70 terrorists in ground and aerial strikes,” it said.
Israel expanded its evacuation warnings to several central neighborhoods in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Wednesday, ordering people to evacuate north out of the city.
Israel has been carrying out an escalating offensive in Lebanon after a year of border clashes with Hezbollah, the most formidably armed of Iran’s proxy forces across the Middle East.
Israel’s offensive has driven at least 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes and killed 2,530 people, including at least 63 over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.
Heir apparent
On Tuesday, the IDF said it had confirmed the killing of Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to its leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli attack last month.
The military said Safieddine was killed in a strike carried out three weeks ago in Beirut’s southern suburbs, its first confirmation of his death.
“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership. We will reach anyone who threatens the security of the civilians of the State of Israel,” said Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
A relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine was appointed to its Jihad Council—the body responsible for its military operations—and to its executive council, overseeing Hezbollah’s financial and administrative affairs.
Secure hostages
Israel has so far shown no sign of relenting in its Gaza and Lebanon campaigns even after assassinating several leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, which lost Nasrallah, its powerful secretary-general, in a Sept. 27 airstrike.
Diplomats say Israel aims to lock in a strong position before a new US administration takes over following the Nov. 5 election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel’s leaders to work toward a ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday.
The top US diplomat told Israel’s leaders that the army’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week presented an “opportunity” for a truce and the release of the hostages Hamas seized during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. —reports from Reuters, AFP
