Beirut- Israel said Tuesday that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed Hezbollah leader widely expected to replace Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israeli last month.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.
According to Israeli military, Safieddine was killed in early October in a strike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders.
Last week, Israel killed the top leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, during a battle in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday during a trip to Israel that leaders there should “capitalize” on Sinwar’s death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages taken as part of the deadly Hamas attack that started the war.
The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday, including one that leveled a building Israel said housed Hezbollah facilities. The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred meters (yards) from where a spokesperson for Hezbollah had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged Netanyahu’s house.
Tuesday’s airstrikes 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 Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea. Israel has said neither the prime minister nor his wife were home at the time of the attack.
Hospitals in Lebanon fear being targeted by Israel
An Israeli airstrike late Monday in Beirut night destroyed several buildings across the street from the country’s largest public hospital, killing 18 people and wounding at least 60 others.
Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence.
The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital and its two underground floors on Tuesday. AP reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary.
The few remaining patients had been evacuated after the Israeli military’s announcement the night before.
“We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours,” hospital director Mazen Alame said. “There is nothing under the hospital.”
Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff.
During his meeting with Israel has carried out waves of heavy airstrikes across southern Beirut and the country’s south and east, areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets, missiles and drones into Israel over the past year, including some that have reached the country’s populous center.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded tens of thousands. . (AP)
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