“We pledge to our great martyr and his martyred brothers to
continue the path of resistance and jihad (struggle) until achieving its goals
of freedom and victory,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday that Safieddine was killed
during a strike on October 04, 2024.
Safieddine was widely expected to be formally elected as the
next Hezbollah leader after Israel assassinated Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last
month.
Israel killed Nasrallah, who was the movement’s chief since
1992, in an airstrike on a neighborhood in southern Beirut on September 27,
2024.
US media acknowledged that Israel used American-made 900kg
(2,000-pound) bombs in the strike that killed Nasrallah and levelled
residential buildings in Beirut’s suburb of Dahieh.
Israel has killed multiple Hezbollah commanders amid the
exchanges of fire with the resistance group since October 8, 2023. That is a
day after Israel launched its war of genocide in Gaza. Hezbollah has carried
out attacks against Israel in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel also launched a massive bombing campaign in Lebanon
on September 23 this year and launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon
on October 1.
Israel has killed about 2,500 people in Lebanon since
October last year, including 1,800 in the past few weeks.
In response to Israel’s attacks, Hezbollah has intensified
its retaliatory operations targeting strategic military sites in Tel Aviv and
Haifa.
