Israeli deputy commander of battalion killed in southern Lebanon

CAIRO - The deputy commander of battalion (9308), Major Aviram Harib, 42, was killed in battle in southern Lebanon, Israeli media said on Tuesday.

Israel's military confirmed on Tuesday the killing of Hashem Safieddine, of Lebanon's Hezbollah, who is the apparent heir to Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli attack. 

A relative of Nasrallah, Safieddine has been running the movement alongside its deputy secretary general Naim Qassem since Nasrallah's assassination by Israel on Sept. 27.

He has sat on the group's Jihad Council - the body responsible for its military operations. He is also head of its executive council, overseeing financial and administrative affairs for the Iran-backed group.

While not as well-known to Israelis as Nasrallah, Safieddine was seen by Israel as a leading target in what it deems a terrorist organisation and a proxy for arch-foe Iran.

Safieddine assumed a prominent role speaking for Hezbollah during the past year of hostilities with Israel, addressing funerals and other events that Nasrallah had long avoided for security reasons.

He was the first Hezbollah official to speak in public after the group's Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, igniting the Gaza war that drew the Lebanese Shi'ite Islamist movement into a parallel conflict with Israel.