Hezbollah has lost contact with one of its senior leaders, Hashem Safieddine, who was seen as a possible successor to slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, since Friday after an Israeli air strike on Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood, a Lebanese security source told Al Jazeera.
As the chairman of the armed group’s Executive Council, Safieddine is a very high-ranking member of the organisation. He is a cousin of the late Nasrallah, the former secretary-general, said Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Beirut.
Jabbari said there was a “sense of urgency” from Lebanese and Hezbollah officials to allow rescue teams in the area to retrieve bodies from the attack on Friday morning.
She added that most Hezbollah commanders are “shadowy”, with Safieddine’s name only coming to light after many believed that he would possibly succeed Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike last month, as Hezbollah’s secretary-general.
“Now, with the possibility of him also being assassinated, it leaves in question the issue of succession within the organisation,” Jabbari explained.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s media office has issued a statement saying reports citing sources within the group regarding “the fate of Hezbollah officials” are “worthless rumors”. The group stressed that only statements issued by their media office are valid.
Hezbollah’s comments came after media organisations, including Al Jazeera, cited security sources within the group saying that it had lost contact with Safieddine. It was not clear whether the group was referring to this report.
‘Intelligence breach’
But the lack of contact with Safieddine also proves that there is an intelligence breach within the group, “allowing Israel to locate and attack one leader after another,” Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara said.
Nader Hashemi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at Georgetown University, says losing contact with Nasrallah’s successor is “another serious and significant setback for Hezbollah”.
“The wording that they’ve lost contact with him is an attempt to prepare Hezbollah supporters with the coming announcement that he has been confirmed dead,” he told Al Jazeera from Ottawa, Canada.
On Friday, the Reuters news agency reported that Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the military was still assessing the aftermath of the air strike, which he confirmed targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.
Hezbollah has not officially commented on the status of Safieddine since the attack.
Israel launched an intense bombing campaign across Lebanon two weeks ago, as it turned focus to its northern border after a year of cross-border exchanges that forced thousands of civilians to flee from both sides of the border. Israel aims to secure the safe return of its nationals to their homes in northern Israel as it pounds Hezbollah positions.
Last week, Israel launched a “limited ground operation” into southern Lebanon while intensifying air strikes in the area and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military, that nine soldiers have so far been killed in ground clashes with Hezbollah fighters.
According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, more than 2,000 people have been killed during Israel’s intense bombardment on the country and forced 1.2 million people to flee their homes.
