Your assist helps us to inform the story
Learn extra
This election remains to be a lifeless warmth, based on most polls. In a combat with such wafer-thin margins, we want reporters on the bottom speaking to the individuals Trump and Harris are courting. Your assist permits us to maintain sending journalists to the story.
The Unbiased is trusted by 27 million People from throughout your entire political spectrum each month. In contrast to many different high quality information retailers, we select to not lock you out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. However high quality journalism should nonetheless be paid for.
Assist us maintain carry these essential tales to gentle. Your assist makes all of the distinction.
Shut
Learn extraShut
Israel has confirmed the killing of Hashem Safieddine, a high-ranking Hezbollah chief and presumed successor to Hassan Nasrallah, in an airstrike on southern Beirut in early October.
Safieddine was the top of Hezbollah’s govt council and a key political determine.
The Iran-backed group confirmed the demise of Safieddin, a day after the Israeli army introduced that the airstrikes within the Dahiyeh suburb had killed Safieddine and Ali Hussein Hazima, the top of Hezbollah’s intelligence department, three weeks earlier.
The airstrike additionally killed 25 different leaders, Israel had claimed.
Hezbollah mentioned it was mourning the demise of Safieddine, who was a “nice chief and an incredible martyr” and lived an “honourable life”.
The group mentioned Safieddin had “joined his brother, our most noble and treasured martyr” Nasrallah.
This blow to Hezbollah’s management comes amid escalating combating between Hezbollah and Israel, with ongoing airstrikes and clashes alongside the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel reportedly killed Safieddine on 3 October by dropping 73 tonnes of bombs on Dahiyeh in an assault just like the bunker-buster bombs that killed Nasrallah per week earlier.
Hezbollah mentioned regardless of the loss its members “pledge to our nice martyr and his martyr brothers to proceed the trail of resistance and jihad till reaching its objectives of freedom and victory”.
Following Safieddine’s demise, Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary common, is now the only remaining member of the group’s public-facing senior management. Qassem has represented Hezbollah since Nasrallah’s assassination however lacks the widespread recognition that the previous secretary common commanded amongst supporters.
“We reached [Hassan] Nasrallah, his substitute, and most of Hezbollah’s management. We are going to know easy methods to attain anybody who threatens the safety of Israel’s residents,” Israel Protection Forces (IDF) Chief of Workers Lt Gen Herzi Halevi mentioned in remarks supplied by the army, based on The Occasions of Israel.
A supply near Hezbollah advised AFP in early October that Safieddine was thought of the “most certainly” candidate for the social gathering’s management.
Israel’s army additionally introduced that it killed three Hezbollah commanders and round 70 fighters in southern Lebanon over the previous 48 hours, following the affirmation of the demise of Safieddine.
The IDF mentioned they’re conducting focused raids towards Hezbollah’s infrastructure.
Not less than 1.2 million Lebanese individuals have been displaced to this point and over 2,500 deaths have been recorded, together with 63 within the final day alone.
The battle between Hezbollah and Israel started after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on 8 October 2023 in “solidarity” with Hamas’s assault on Israel the day earlier than. Hostilities have sharply intensified since Israel launched “Operation Northern Arrows” towards Hezbollah in Lebanon on 23 September.
Final week, Israel focused and killed Yahya Sinwar, the chief of Hamas, in Gaza.
On Monday evening, Israeli strikes on Higher Beirut killed 18 individuals, together with 4 youngsters and injured 60 in a strike in Dahiyeh.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make use of the current killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar to safe the discharge of hostages from the 7 October Hamas assault and to contemplate ending the conflict in Gaza.
Throughout his eleventh go to to the Center East because the battle escalated, Mr Blinken additionally aimed to deal with rising tensions in Lebanon.
Mr Netanyahu indicated that Sinwar’s demise may assist within the hostages’ return and assist obtain conflict targets. Nevertheless, there was no point out of a ceasefire, regardless of the extreme devastation in Gaza, the place army capabilities have diminished and many of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced.