Hezbollah lost contact with chairman of executive council: Source
Lebanese security source has told Al Jazeera that Hezbollah has lost contact with the chairman of its executive council, Hashem Safieddine, since last Friday
The source said Safieddine was in an underground headquarters when he was targeted by an Israeli air strike in the area of Marijah.
‘Sense of urgency’ over losing contact with Safieddine
Since Friday, security sources and Hezbollah sources have told Al Jazeera that they have not been able to contact Hashem Safieddine.
Now, this is a very high-ranking member of the organisation. He is a cousin of the late Hassan Nasrallah, the former secretary-general, and they are trying to get to this location since the strike happened on Friday morning, but constant Israeli air strikes are preventing them from reaching the site.
So they are making a plea to the international community to urge Israel to halt its air strikes in that vicinity so rescue workers can try and retrieve the bodies from that air strike.
So, there is a sense of urgency now since we understand that the Lebanese officials and Hezbollah officials are now making a plea to other countries to intervene, to force Israel to at least have a lull in the air strikes in the area for them to try and reach the attack site from Friday morning.
So the situation is very dire at the moment. This person that most people in Lebanon have never heard of before, this is not a common household name.
Most commanders within the higher echelon of Hezbollah are shadowy figures. This name only came to light after Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated, believed to be someone who was groomed over the past few decades as a possible successor to Hassan Nasrallah and now with the possibility of him also being assassinated, it leaves in question the issue of succession within the organisation.
‘Israel’s recent attacks shows it infiltrated Hezbollah’
Al Jazeera’s political analyst Marwan Bishara says Hezbollah losing contact with its leader Hashem Safieddine shows that Israel is able to “deliver one blow after another” to the group.
“It is also significant that it proves there is an intelligence breach when it comes to Hezbollah, allowing Israel to locate and attack one leader after another,” he said.
“From the rigging and detonating of communication devices and the assassination of one Hezbollah leader to another, all the way to Hassan Nasrallah and now apparently his successor, underlines that either Israel is getting help or it has infiltrated Hezbollah in various ways digitally, electronically or perhaps with human resources,” he added.
