Israel says it killed Hezbollah official expected to be the group’s next leader

The Israeli military has said that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed a top Hezbollah official who had been widely expected to be the group’s next leader.

There was no immediate confirmation from the militant group about the fate of Hashem Safieddine.

Mr Safieddine, a powerful cleric within the party ranks, was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.

Israel said Mr Safieddine was killed by an airstrike in early October in a southern suburb of Beirut. Around 25 other Hezbollah leaders were killed during the strike, Israel said.

Israeli strikes in recent months have killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, leaving the group in disarray.

The Beirut suburb where Mr Safieddine was killed was pummelled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday. The Israeli military levelled a building in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut that it said housed Hezbollah facilities.

The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred meters from where a spokesperson for the militant group had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged the Israeli prime minister’s house.

The airstrike came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah press conference nearby was cut short and an Associated Press photographer captured an image of a missile heading towards the building moments before it was destroyed. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, said the group was behind the Saturday drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea.

He hinted that it might attempt future strikes on Mr Netanyahu’s home.

Israel has said neither the prime minister nor his wife were home at the time of the attack.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday as part of his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

After Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, Mr Blinken is trying to revive efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. So far, both Israel and Hamas appear to be digging in.

Mr Blinken stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians and said Israel should “capitalise” on Mr Sinwar’s death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages there.

Mr Netanyahu’s office called his meeting with Mr Blinken, which lasted more than two hours, “friendly and productive”.

Mr Blinken landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries.

During his meeting with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Blinken underscored the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, according to US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The need for more aid in Gaza is something Mr Blinken and US defence secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week.

Mr Miller said Mr Blinken also stressed the importance of ending the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated earlier this month when Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

The State Department said ahead of Mr Blinken’s visit that he would focus on ending the war in Gaza, securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and alleviating the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have brokered months of talks between Israel and Hamas, trying to strike a deal in which the militants would release dozens of hostages in return for an end to the war, a lasting ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

But both Israel and Hamas accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands over the summer, and the talks ground to a halt in August.

Hamas says its demands haven’t changed following the killing of Mr Sinwar.