TEL AVIV, October 8. /TASS/. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said it was likely that the candidate for the position of secretary-general of Hezbollah, the head of the movement's executive council Hashem Safieddine, has already been killed. Previously, the Israeli Air Force killed the last Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

"Hezbollah is an organization without a leader, Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated. This has a dramatic effect on everything that happens. There is no one to make decisions, no one to act," the Times of Israel cited the defense minister during his visit to the headquarters of Israel’s Northern Command.

Gallant believes the actions Israel is "taking are being observed all over the Middle East." "When the smoke in Lebanon clears, they will realize in Iran that they have lost their most valuable asset, which is Hezbollah," the minister said.

On September 23, Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows against Hezbollah units in Lebanon, during which it is carrying out massive airstrikes against the movement’s military facilities. In a strike on September 27 Israel eliminated Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. The movement confirmed his death and vowed to continue to oppose Israel. In the early morning hours of October 1, the Israeli army announced the start of a ground operation in the border areas in southern Lebanon. Earlier, the Al Arabiya TV channel citing their sources reported that Hashem Safieddine, head of the Hezbollah Executive Council, who was believed to be the main candidate for the next secretary-general of Hezbollah, was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut on October 3. According to the channel, several other high-ranking members of the movement, as well as officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed with him. Hezbollah denounced the information spread by the media as false rumors.