Israel ramps up airstrikes and incursion into Lebanon

Netanyahu claims assassinated Hezbollah leader's successor Safieddine is among 1,400 people killed in the past fortnight

- BEL TREW, COSETTE MOLIJN

Israel has expanded its ground invasion of southern Lebanon by deploying another division of thousands of troops. The Israeli military said a fourth division had joined the eight-day-old ground operation against Hezbollah, while the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the would-be successor to the Iran-backed group’s assassinated leader had also been killed.

Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official, was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah. Safieddine has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli airstrike late last week. He has been a prime target for Israel, nurtured as an influential leader and potential heir. As head of Hezbollah’s executive council, he has overseen the group’s political affairs, while also sitting on the Jihad council, which manages its military operations.

Mr Netanyahu claimed that Hezbollah is “now weaker than it has been for many many years”. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, told officers at the Israeli military’s northern command centre earlier in the day: “Hezbollah is an organisation without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated.”

Mr Netanyahu spoke hours after Nasrallah’s former deputy, Naim Qassem, insisted the Iran-backed group had overcome the recent “painful blows” from Israel, with a number of senior commanders killed in strikes in Beirut, and that its capabilities were “fine”.

The Israeli military also said it had dismantled a Hezbollah underground tunnel that crossed approximately 10 metres from the Marwahin area in Lebanon into Israeli territory. “It did not have an exit point yet. We understand it was in the process of being built, to be ready to invade Israel,” a spokesperson said.