The decimation of Hezbollah’s leadership continues. Israel has already killed 33 commanders, a possible new leader is missing

Reuters, referring to the statement of three Israeli officials for the website Axios, said that Israel, in its operation against the Iranian-backed Lebanese group, carried out a major strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut late on Thursday, the main target of which was the underground bunker where Hashim Safijuddin was located.

“The loss of Nasrallah’s successor would be another blow to Hezbollah and its patron Iran. “Israeli strikes across the region over the past year and the intense ones over the past few weeks have decimated Hezbollah’s leadership,” Reuters wrote.

A week after the killing of Nasrallah, it is still unclear who will replace him. Possible candidate Safíjuddin may now also be killed or injured, other agencies also write. Hizballah leadership cannot currently contact Safijuddin, Al-Jazeera news station reported, citing security circles in Lebanon and within the movement.

Safijuddin is the head of Hezbollah’s executive council. He is the cousin of the former leader of the Nasrallah movement, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on September 27. Safíjuddin has been on the US terrorist list since May 2017.

Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera television that the loss of contact was “another serious and significant complication” for Hezbollah. According to him, the report can prepare followers for a possible confirmation of his death.

On the night of Friday, the Israeli army tried to hit the remaining members of the top leadership of Hezbollah with a large-scale airstrike on the outskirts of Beirut. According to the Times of Israel, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Israeli soldiers have already killed at least 440 Hezbollah members, including 30 commanders, during ground operations in southern Lebanon.

“We are pushing Hezbollah to the north. Some of the terrorists fled and some were defeated by our soldiers in close combat,” Hagari said at a press conference. He also projected a video showing a 250-meter-long Hezbollah tunnel, which, according to Hagari, was located about 300 meters from the border with Israel.

According to him, the video also shows backpacks with the properties of terrorists, which were supposed to be used in the attack on Galilean communities. “We destroyed this tunnel yesterday,” Hagari declared.

“This tunnel was prepared for the invasion of Israel by Hezbollah’s Radwan forces,” she wrote the Israeli army to the video on the X network. The video shows that the terrorists lived here, there is a kitchen, a refrigerator and food supplies.

The situation in Lebanon escalated sharply in mid-September after the explosions of thousands of communication devices used by Hezbollah and the subsequent large-scale Israeli bombing of Lebanese positions of Hezbollah, during which many members of the leadership of this movement, including Nasrallah, were killed.

On Monday, the Israeli army launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon, saying it was a “limited, localized and targeted” operation in an attempt to destroy the base of the terrorist movement Hezbollah near the border, from where it is shelling northern Israel. The action is supported by the Israeli air force and artillery.