Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, without naming them specifically, according to a Reuters report.
“We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Netanyahu said in a prerecorded video message. The report stated he did not identify by name Nasrallah’s successor or the individuals he claimed Israel had eliminated.
A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to Nasrallah, was believed to be during an Israeli bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on Oct. 9, 2024. Israel expanded operations in Lebanon nearly a year after Hezbollah began exchanging fire in support of its ally, Hamas, following the Palestinian group’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Netanyahu claimed Israel has killed “thousands of terrorists. ”
AFP/Getty
Nasrallah was killed in a September airstrike on Beirut. Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant suggested that Nasrallah’s immediate replacement had likely been “eliminated.” Netanyahu’s reference to the “replacement of the replacement” remained unclear.
“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” Netanyahu stated in his message directed at the people of Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel from Gaza, citing solidarity with Hamas.
Last year, the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that over 41,000 people have been killed since then in ongoing retaliatory strikes by Israel.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also expanded beyond Gaza, with Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah launching cross-border strikes on Israel shortly after war erupted.
Israel Cancels Official’s Visit to Washington
A planned visit to Washington by Israel’s top defense official was abruptly canceled on Tuesday by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the The Associated Press (AP). The move signals rising tensions between the two allies and raises doubts about the Biden administration’s ability to prevent Israel’s multifront conflict from escalating into a wider war.
Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill 18 Officials Say
Palestinian officials reported Wednesday that Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza killed at least 18 people, including five children and two women.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. The Gaza Health Ministry has claimed 18 people were killed in Gaza on Wednesday.
Abdel Kareem Hana)/AP
Two airstrikes targeted tents for displaced people in the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. Nine bodies, including three children, were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press journalist confirmed seeing the bodies at the morgue.
