Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Tuesday that the terrorist expected to replace Hezbollah’s late secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, is likely also dead.
Hashem Safieddine was seen as the probable successor to Nasrallah, who was assassinated in a massive Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. A cousin of the group’s late leader, the high-ranking terrorist served as the chairman of Hezbollah’s Executive Council.
“Hezbollah is an organization without a leader, Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated, this thing has a dramatic effect on everything that happens. There is no one to make decisions, no one to act,” Gallant said during a visit to the IDF Northern Command.
The minister is expected to leave Israel on Tuesday evening for talks in Washington DC on Wednesday with his American counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“All the capabilities are being peeled away, and we see what is happening. There is fear, there is panic,” he said. “There is flight, an erosion of the Hezbollah organization of a different magnitude. This organization has never experienced anything like this.”
“The actions we are taking are observed all over the Middle East; when the smoke in Lebanon clears, in Iran they will realize that they have lost their most valuable asset — which is Hezbollah,” he added.
Safieddine has not been seen or heard from since an Israeli airstrike last Thursday night in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood.
The airstrike was aimed at specific targets belonging to Hezbollah’s Intelligence Headquarters in Beirut, including terror operatives belonging to the unit, intelligence-gathering means, command centers, and additional terrorist infrastructure.
