On the night of 3 October 2024, the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF) carried out an airstrike on an underground bunker in

Dahieh Dahieh (, ) is a predominantly Shia Muslim suburb in the south of Beirut, in the Baabda District of Lebanon. It has a minority of Sunni Muslims, Christians, and a Palestinian refugee camp with 20,000 inhabitants. It is a residential and commerc ...

, a predominantly

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

suburb in the south of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, where

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

leaders, including

Hashem Safieddine Hashem Safieddine (1964) was a Lebanese Shia cleric who served as the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council from 2001 until his assassination in 2024. A maternal cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, Safieddine was considered the "number two" in Hezbol ...

, had convened in the headquarters of Hezbollah's Intelligence Branch. Safieddine was later confirmed dead by both the IDF and Hezbollah.

Background

was the cousin of and presumed successor to

Hassan Nasrallah Hassan Nasrallah (, ; 31 August 196027 September 2024) was a Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024. Bor ...

, who had been the leader of Hezbollah until he was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on the Hezbollah headquarters on 27 September 2024. Safieddine, who was attending a meeting with senior

officials at the time of the strike, was head of the Hezbollah executive council and the

Jihad Council The Jihad Council of Hezbollah is a council responsible for directing the groups' military and security activities. It also exercises considerable influence over the organization's various civilian branches and maintains ties with external partner ...

, which manages the group's military operations. Safieddine was designated a terrorist in May 2017 by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

for his leadership role in Hezbollah. According to the IDF, there were more than 25 members of Hezbollah's intelligence division inside the command headquarters, including Saeb Ayyash, the air assembly officer in the intelligence division, and Mahmoud Muhammad Shahin, the Hezbollah intelligence division officer in the Syrian branch.

Airstrike

In the wider context of the latest Israel–Hezbollah war, at least 11 consecutive bombings took place in Dahieh on that occasion, reportedly targeting a meeting taking place in an underground bunker and consisting of several senior Hezbollah officials, including Safieddine and the group's chief of intelligence, Hussein Ali Hazimeh. It is unclear how many casualties were caused in the attack. The IDF said that the strikes targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters. Around 73 tons of bombs were dropped on the bunker by the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

, and the strikes were reportedly larger than the attack that killed Hezbollah secretary-general

on 27 September 2024. Footage of the aftermath showed large balls of flame rising from the bunker with thick smoke and flares bursting out. The attack emitted loud bangs and caused buildings to shake.

Fate of Hashem Safieddine

According to the Israeli Channel 12, Israeli security officials were "increasingly confident" that Safieddine had been killed in the attack. On 5 October, a Lebanese security source reported that Hezbollah lost contact with Safieddine, and that Hezbollah has not heard from him since the airstrike.

Al Arabiya Arabiya (, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news television channel. It is based in Riyadh and is a subsidiary of MBC Group. The channel is a flagship of the media c ...

and Al Hadath reported that Israel confirmed the assassination of Hashem Safieddine and all Hezbollah leaders that were with him. On 8 October, Israeli Defense Minister

Yoav Gallant Yoav Gallant (; born 8 November 1958) is an Israeli politician and former military officer who served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense between 2022 and 2024. Gallant was an officer in the Southern Command (Israel), Southern ...

stated that Safieddine was likely "eliminated". The claim was later repeated by Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

. On 22 October, the IDF formally announced his killing along with Hussein Hazimeh and 24 other senior Hezbollah members. Hezbollah confirmed Sadieddine's death the following day, and confirmed Hazimeh's death two days later.

Analysis

According to military analyst Elijah Magnier, the disappearance of Hashem Safieddine will not change Hezbollah's military strategy against Israel because "the team of

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

in the south of Lebanon are fighting independently of the political decision-making in Beirut".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Safieddine, Hashem 2024 building bombings 2020s in Beirut Airstrikes during the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon October 2024 in Lebanon Assassinations in Lebanon Beirut in the Israeli–Lebanese conflict Building bombings in Beirut Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present) Targeted killing by Israel Baabda District Beirut airstrikes Attacks on headquarters of political parties Attacks on office buildings in Lebanon

Background

Airstrike

Fate of Hashem Safieddine

Analysis

See also

References