Hezbollah Appears To Have Run Out of Leaders

Hezbollah is still without a new leader, nearly two weeks after its long-serving chief was killed in an Israeli strike and with its deputy head apparently unwilling to step into the role.

Hezbollah’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem—currently considered the organization’s top official—said in a video address streamed by Iranian news outlet Press TV on Tuesday that a new leader would be elected, suggesting he would not take up the mantle.

Iran-backed Hezbollah’s longtime and influential leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut in late September.

The area, Dahiyeh, is described by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as Hezbollah’s nerve center and de-facto base, and has come under heavy Israeli bombardment in recent weeks.

Shortly after Nasrallah’s death, Qassem said in a speech that Hezbollah would appoint a new leader as soon as possible, according to a write-up published by the Iranian IRNA news agency in late September.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire over Israel’s northern border for over a year, after the armed group, which dominates swathes of Lebanon said it was acting in solidarity with Palestinian militant organization Hamas.

Israel said at the end of September it had started a “limited, localized and targeted” ground incursion into southern Lebanon alongside intense airstrikes. Israel said it is targeting key Hezbollah infrastructure and commanders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israeli forces “took out thousands of terrorists,” including Iran-backed Hezbollah’s longtime and influential leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel also killed “Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement,” Netanyahu said.

This appeared to refer to Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s cousin and a senior Hezbollah member widely speculated to be Nasrallah’s potential successor.

It is not clear who Netanyahu was talking about in his latter reference.

“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” Netanyahu said.

Hezbollah has many branches and commanders at varying levels, many of whom Israel has said it has killed.

Israel had reportedly targeted Safieddine late last week, but there had been no confirmation whether he had been killed. The IDF has not yet publicly confirmed this, and has been contacted by Newsweek for comment.

As well as Nasrallah and Safieddine, other leading Hezbollah figures reported to have been killed include Ali Karaki, Ibrahim Aqeel and Fu’ad Shakar.

Hezbollah has many branches and commanders at varying levels, many of whom Israel has said it has killed, but at the very top “none of them is at the same level as these five,” Sarit Zehavi, a former intelligence officer and retired lieutenant colonel in Israel’s military who now runs the Alma Center, a research organization focused on Israel’s northern border, told Newsweek.

The taking out of prominent leaders is leaving Hezbollah “very shaky” as organizations like the Tehran-supported group are heavily reliant on their top leadership, Beni Sabti, a researcher with the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank, told Newsweek.

“So yes they are shooting to the north but they have no plans for a little bit further or later,” he said of Hezbollah.

On Tuesday, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon that Hezbollah “is an organization without a head,” adding that “Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated.”

On Tuesday, the IDF said it had killed Suhail Hussein Husseini, described by the Israeli military as the commander of Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut.

Source » msn