Frinday 4 Oct 2024 {HMC} Reports suggest the strikes on Dahiyeh were targeting Hashem Safieddine, who is seen as the most likely candidate to replace Hassan Nasrallah
The Israeli military launched a series of strikes on southern Beirut on Thursday night, in one of the most intense bombardments on the city since the campaign began last week.
A source close to Hezbollah told the AFP news agency that Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on the group’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital.
Hashem Safieddine, the most likely candidate to replace Hassan Nasrallah as leader of Hezbollah and the head of its executive council, was the target of the strikes, the New York Times and Axios reported, citing Israeli officials. The result of the strike, said to have targeted a meeting of senior Hezbollah figures, is unclear.
New footage showed giant balls of flame rising from the targeted site with thick smoke billowing and flares shooting out. Reporters in the capital and beyond heard loud bangs that made car alarms go off and buildings shake.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli army Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee had issued an “urgent warning” for residents to evacuate from the south Beirut area of Burj al-Barajneh. He later issued an evacuation order for the Hadath neighbourhood in Beirut’s south.
“You are located near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, and the IDF will work against them in the near future,” he had said in a statement on X.
Safieddine leads Hezbollah’s highest political decision-making body, the executive council, and was considered the number two in the organisation’s political wing before the death of Nasrallah, who was killed by Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh last week.
He is reportedly designated to succeed Nasrallah, though no formal announcement of his succession has been made since the late-leader was killed last week.
Previously, the group’s political leaders like Nasrallah, Safieddine and other officials in its political wing, were thought not to be targets of Israel during wartime. On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike targeted the building which housed the group’s media relations office in southern Beirut. It was unclear if any members of the office were in the office at the time of the strike.
Earlier in the evening, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP that another Israeli strike had targeted a warehouse next to Beirut airport, in the capital’s south.
This week, Israel announced that its troops had started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, after days of heavy bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds around the country.
Israel’s bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon came as it weighed retaliation for Tuesday’s Iranian missile attack on Israel.
On Thursday, US president Joe Biden said he still believed an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, but added “there is a lot to do yet”.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is set to lead Friday prayers and deliver a public sermon that could shed light on the Islamic republic’s plans after the massive missile attack this week.
Khamenei’s rare Friday sermon – a first in almost five years – comes three days before the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. Khamenei last led Friday prayers in January 2020 after Iran fired missiles at a US army base in Iraq, in response to a strike that killed Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.
The prayer will follow “a commemoration ceremony” for Nasrallah. Iran said its attack on Israel was carried out in “self defence” and warned of further “crushing attacks” if it retaliated.
Iran also warned the US against intervening, threatening “a harsh response” if it did. Washington has said Iran must suffer “consequences”, which may be coordinated with Israeli officials, for the ballistic missile fire.
Biden said on Thursday he was discussing possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil sites.
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