BEIRUT: Following an alleged Israeli airstrike that targeted Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the presumed heir to the late Hezbollah leader, has not been in communication since Friday, according to a Lebanese security source on Saturday.
Israel launched a massive strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Thursday as part of its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese organization. Israeli sources said that the strike was directed towards Hashem Safieddine in an underground bunker.
According to the Lebanese security source, rescue workers have been prevented from searching the bombing site by continuous Israeli attacks on Dahiyeh, a suburb of Beirut, since Friday.
Since the attack, Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine.
According to an Israeli official, Hezbollah’s intelligence center was the target of Thursday night’s airstrikes, which the IDF was still evaluating.
Iran and Hezbollah would suffer yet more damage if the presumed successor to Nasrallah were to pass away.
Israel launched its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, escalating the crisis in Lebanon.
After fighting Hezbollah for almost a year, Israel has launched a heavy bombing campaign in Lebanon and moved troops across the border in recent weeks. Previously, fighting had largely taken place at the Israel-Lebanon border. After being under siege by Hezbollah since October 8 of last year, Israel claims to want to let the safe return of tens of thousands of its residents to their homes in northern Israel.
1.2 million Lebanese, or over 25% of the country’s population, have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the Israeli onslaught, which has murdered hundreds of common people in the country, including rescue workers.
A Hamas member, his wife, and their two children were slain in Saturday’s attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli, according to a Lebanese security officer. A head of the Palestinian group’s armed branch was also said to have died in the strike by media connected to it.
