Top Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine killed in Israeli strike

Tyre: Hezbollah announced Wednesday that Hashem Safieddine, one of its top officials who had been widely expected to be the group’s next leader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The announcement came a day after Israel said it had killed Safieddine in a strike earlier this month in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Safieddine, a powerful cleric within the party ranks, had been expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders.

Safieddine was killed in early October in a strike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders, according to Israel, whose airstrikes in southern Lebanon in recent months have killed many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, leaving the group in disarray.

Last week, Israel killed the top leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, during a battle in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a trip to Israel that leaders there should “capitalize” on Sinwar’s death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages taken during the deadly Hamas attack that started the war. Blinken also stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.