Speaking on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel has struck the final blow to Hashem Safieddine, the future leader of Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and successor to its ex-chief, Hassan Nasrallah. This was the latest of a series of Israeli military operations across Lebanon to weaken the militant organization. He also asked the people of Lebanon to take back their country from Hezbollah.

Blow To Hezbollah Leadership

Netanyahu said, “We degraded Hezbollah capabilities; we knocked out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement.” He noted that the Hezbollah group is weaker than it has been in decades.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Safieddine was killed, termed this a heavy loss for Hezbollah, and noted that by eliminating the probable successor after Nasrallah’s assassination in the Israeli attack on September 27, Israel had caused Hezbollah to lose its head. “Hezbollah is an organisation without a head,” he said. “Nasrallah was eliminated; his replacement was probably also eliminated.”

Escalation Of Military Operations

Israel has increased ground forces’ advances deeper into the southern Lebanon countryside while airstrikes into the southern suburbs of Beirut occurred in the past couple of days after reportedly killing Suhail Hussein Husseini, identified as a top figure and the man who coordinated the logistics of Hezbollah. This trend illustrates more of the Israeli objective in destroying sectors of Hezbollah to limit Hezbollah’s influence.

Thus far, the conflict has also seen Hezbollah fire nearly 200 rockets into Israel targeting different areas including Haifa. It retaliated by targeting the missile launching sites to defend its territory.

Humanitarian Impact Of The Conflict

The humanitarian crisis was grave, with over 1,000 reported deaths in Lebanon during only two weeks, and pushing over a million to go into internal displacement. Israel has aimed at ensuring that the north of Israel remains secure from attacks by Hezbollah and also encourages the displaced residents to return home.

Recent reports point to Israel having deployed yet another army division to southern Lebanon, increasing military activities. Hezbollah deputy leader Qaim Nassem had said that he still supports the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, in his quest for the establishment of a ceasefire. It still remains unknown if this is a turn away from a strategy Hezbollah has followed in the recent past, whereby they have repeatedly stated that they are fighting for sympathy with the Palestinians as hostilities between Israel and Hamas continue in Gaza.