Israel is obstructing search and rescue efforts
7/10/2024 5:47
Israel is obstructing search
and rescue efforts in an area where senior Hezbollah leader
Hashem Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed
Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, a Hezbollah official
said.
Safieddine is seen as a likely successor to former leader
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli strike on
Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiye, on Sept. 27.
His fate remains unclear.
The senior Hezbollah political official, Mahmolud Qmati,
also said he had no information on reports that the leader of
Iran's elite Quds Force Esmail Qaani has not been heard from
since the strikes on Beirut late last week.
Israel should "let rescue teams do their work," he told
Iraqi state television.
Qmati said that Hezbollah was now being jointly led until it
could pick a new leader, which would take time.
"What's important is that joint command is in place," he
said.
"The method of choosing a replacement for the
secretary-general takes time and requires appropriate
circumstances, and for that reason we suffice today with
temporary joint command," he said.
Qmati said Nasrallah's body remained in Lebanon and that he
would be laid to rest in Beirut's southern suburbs, where
Hezbollah holds heavy influence, when conditions allowed.
Israel has killed much of Hezbollah's military command and
senior leadership in nearly a year of fighting that began when
Hezbollah opened a front in solidarity with Palestinians the day
after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The conflict has rapidly expanded in the past couple of
weeks, with Israel snubbing a US-backed push for a ceasefire,
killing Nasrallah and launching a wide air campaign that has
pummeled Lebanese towns and villages and left 1.2 million people
displaced, according to Lebanese government figures.
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