Israel says it killed Hezbollah official who was set to be group's next leader

Israel said Tuesday that it had killed the Hezbollah official poised to become the militant group’s next leader in an airstrike outside Beirut earlier this month.

Hashem Safieddine was expected to succeed his cousin Hassan Nasrallah, one of the founding members of the Iran-backed Lebanese group, who was killed last month in a large-scale Israeli attack on a southern suburb of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

Hezbollah has so far not confirmed Safieddine’s death. 

In a statement Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said Safieddine was killed about three weeks ago in an airstrike that hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. At the time of the strike, more than 25 Hezbollah members were inside the underground headquarters, it said.

The commander of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, Ali Hussein Hazima, who the IDF said was responsible for directing numerous attacks on Israeli troops, was also killed in the strike.

“We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership,” Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said, according to Reuters. “We will reach anyone who threatens the security of the civilians of the State of Israel.”

Israel’s escalating offensive in Lebanon has killed dozens of Hezbollah members, including its top leaders, leaving the group in disarray. After the death of Nasrallah, the group’s leader for over three decades, Safieddine was seen by many as the next leader of the militant and political group, which has been supporting Palestinian militants fighting Israel in the Gaza Strip.

As head of Hezbollah’s executive council, Safieddine had oversight over the group’s financial and administrative affairs. He also sat on its Jihad Council, overseeing the group’s military operations.

Safieddine had lately been taking a more prominent role in the group’s activities, addressing funerals and events as he filled in for Nasrallah due to security concerns.

The United States designated Safieddine a terrorist in 2017. He was believed to be around 60 years old, according to a State Department profile.

Israel’s confirmation of Safieddine’s death on Tuesday came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Tel Aviv, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He also met with the families of hostages still being held in Gaza.

Hopes for their release were raised last week when Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who masterminded the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel that began the Israel-Hamas war, was killed in an Israeli strike on his home in Gaza.

Blinken said Sinwar’s death “does create an important opportunity to bring the hostages home, to bring the war to an end and to ensure Israel’s security.”

The State Department said Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security, and that he and Israeli officials discussed efforts to deter further aggression from Iran after its unprecedented ballistic missile attack on Israel last month.

They also discussed the importance of securing the release of all hostages, ending the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon and increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where there are warnings of “catastrophic” levels of hunger.

The U.S. delegation’s departure on Wednesday was briefly disrupted by the sounding of air sirens in Tel Aviv, reportedly due to rocket fire from Hezbollah that was intercepted by Israel.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Meta bans jet-tracking accounts that post updates on Trump, Musk and Zuckerberg
• Harris says she's 'a pragmatic capitalist' in pitch to Latino voters
• Some Juul users are receiving thousands of dollars as part of a $300M class action settlement