Hezbollah has elected a new leader after its previous leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on the militant groupʼs headquarters. Hashim Safi al-Din, who was previously the head of the executive council of the Islamist group, became the new leader.
This is reported by Al-Arabia.
Back in 2008, al-Din was chosen as Nasrallahʼs successor to the post of Secretary General of Hezbollah. Ad-Din is Nasrallahʼs first cousin, and his son is married to the daughter of the late influential Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpsʼ al-Quds unit. In addition, in 1982, Hashim Safi al-Din was one of the founders of Hezbollah.
What preceded
On September 27, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck the headquarters of the Lebanese group Hezbollah in the capital of Lebanon, Beirut. At first, Israel did not officially say whether militant leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the attack or whether he was present at the site during the attack.
The next day, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallahʼs death. IDF says the attack took place while Hezbollahʼs high command was at its headquarters "carrying out terrorist activities against the citizens of Israel."
Hassan Nasrallah died at the age of 64. He headed Hezbollah for 32 years, starting in 1992. Under the leadership of Nasrallah, Hezbollah repeatedly launched rocket attacks on the territory of Israel, and in 2006 an attack on the Israeli military became the cause of the Lebanon-Israeli war.
The situation between Lebanon and Israel
The situation between Israel and Hezbollah escalated this September. Over the course of a month, Israel began striking Lebanon. In particular, on September 20, IDF struck the Hezbollah high command in Beirut. The commander of the groupʼs missile division Ibrahim Kubaisi was killed in the attack.
Before that, on September 17, hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded in Lebanon. Because of this, 12 people died, almost 3 thousand were injured. Reuters, citing sources, writes that Israelʼs foreign intelligence service Mossad planted explosives in 5 000 pagers imported by the Lebanese Hezbollah group a few months before the explosions. ABC News notes that Israel has been preparing for the operation for at least 15 years. Israeli president officially denied the countryʼs involvement in blowing up pagers in Lebanon.
On September 18, a repeated series of explosions thundered in Lebanon. Walkie-talkies used by members of the Lebanese Hezbollah group and car radios were detonated. 14 people died, another 450 were injured. On the same day, Israel announced a "new phase" of the war — it would be fought mainly in the north of the country, which borders Lebanon. Since then, firefights between IDF and Hezbollah have intensified.
- In the north, Israel borders Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group operates. Hezbollah and Israel have been attacking each other since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
- Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite Muslim military-political organization founded in 1982. Hezbollah is actively supported by Iran, it is recognized as a terrorist in more than 20 countries, in particular in the USA, EU and Great Britain. Hezbollah has been against Israel since its inception.