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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Hashim Safi Al Din
Hashem Safieddine (Arabic: هاشم صفي الدين, romanized: Hāshim Ṣafī al-Dīn; 1964 – c. 3 October 2024) was a Lebanese Shia cleric who served as the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council from 2001 until his assassination in 2024. A maternal cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, Safieddine was generally considered the "number two" in Hezbollah for many years. In 2017, he was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States and was also designated as a terrorist by several of the Arab Gulf states. Following Nasrallah's assassination on 27 September 2024, during the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, Safieddine was widely considered his likely successor. On 3 October 2024, Safieddine was targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, south of Beirut. His death in the strike was confirmed later that month.

Early life

Safieddine was born in 1964 in Deir Qanoun En Nahr, southern Lebanon, to a respected Shia family. His name is also rendered as Safi al-Din. He was a maternal first cousin of Hassan Nasrallah. He was the brother of Abdallah Safieddine, a key Hezbollah figure based in Tehran.

Safieddine studied theology in Najaf, Iraq, and in Qom, Iran, together with Nasrallah, until he was recalled to Lebanon by Hassan Nasrallah in 1994, and had been groomed by Nasrallah as a successor ever since.

Career

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In 1995, Safieddine was promoted to the Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Assembly), the highest council in Hezbollah, after which he operated under Imad Mughniyeh, until the latter's assassination in 2008. He was also appointed head of the Jihad Council. The Executive Council, of which he was president, oversees Hezbollah's political, social, and educational activities.

Until Nasrallah's assassination on 27 September 2024, Safieddine was among the three major leaders of Hezbollah. The other two were Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem. He was regarded as second only to Nasrallah.

In 2006, Safieddine was reportedly promoted by Iran as a possible successor to Hassan Nasrallah for the post of Secretary-General of Hezbollah.

Safieddine was one of six clerics who were members of the Shura Council of Hezbollah. He was the head of the executive council of the group, also known as Shura Tanfiziyah, to which he was elected in the general assembly meeting in July 2001. He was one of nine members of the deciding consultative council (Shura al-Qarar), which is the top body of the group.

In October 2008, Safieddine was elected to succeed Nasrallah as secretary general of Hezbollah in the general meeting. He was considered the "number two" figure in the organization. His appointment as heir apparent to Nasrallah was supported by Iranians. In 2009, Safieddine was again elected to the Shura Council. In November 2010, he was appointed Hezbollah's military commander of the Southern Lebanon region.

In May 2017, Safieddine was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of State. He was also designated as a terrorist by Saudi Arabia. In May 2018, Safieddine and nine other senior Hezbollah figures (including Nasrallah and Naim Qassem) were sanctioned by the U.S. and several of its Arab allies (including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain). In 2020, the U.S. sanctioned two Lebanon-based companies, Arch Consulting and Meamar Construction, which are both subordinate to the Executive Council of Hezbollah, receive guidance and direction from Safieddine and Sultan Khalifah As'ad, and are accused of concealing money transfers to the accounts of Hezbollah leadership, "while the Lebanese people suffer from inadequate services".

After Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah's headquarters in September 2024, Safieddine was widely expected to be named as his successor. He was recognized for his similarity to Nasrallah in both appearance and manner of speaking, and for his strong ties with the Iranian regime and the Ayatollah. In the immediate aftermath of Nasrallah's death, the Saudi news outlets Al Arabiya and AlHadath reported that Safieddine had been officially designated as his successor, although Hezbollah denied this via Telegram. Although Qassem was formally Hezbollah's acting leader, after Nasrallah's death, Safieddine assumed control over the organization.

Assassination

Main article: Assassination of Hashem Safieddine

On the night of 3 October 2024, an Israeli Air Force strike targeted Safieddine at a location in Dahieh, a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah stronghold. The airstrike targeted an underground bunker at which Hezbollah intelligence chief Hussein Hazimah ("Mortada") was also believed to be located. Hezbollah said that they had lost contact with Saffiedine ever since and that he was missing.

Several days after the attack, his death in the strike was announced by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and later Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On 22 October 2024, the IDF confirmed the killings of Safieddine, Hazimah, and other senior Hezbollah members and that his body had been found. Hezbollah acknowledged his death the next day.

Personal life

Safieddine was married to Raeda Faqih. In June 2020, their eldest son, Reza, married Zeinab Soleimani, the youngest daughter of the Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani, who had been killed by an American drone strike in Iraq in January of that year.

See also

References

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