Netanyahu confirms Hezbollah’s Safieddine killed, says terror group at its weakest point in many years

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message from his office, October 8, 2024. (Screenshot/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message from his office, October 8, 2024. (Screenshot/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms that Israel assassinated the projected new Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine, who was targeted in an airstrike in Beirut last Thursday, and claims Israel has also killed Safieddine’s replacement, without saying who this would be.

In an English-language video message to the Lebanese public, Netanyahu says that Israel has “degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities; we took out thousands of terrorists, including [longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement.”

“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many many years,” says the premier.

He spends much of the message urging the public to take the country back from Hezbollah control.

“Now you, the Lebanese people, you stand at a significant crossroads. It is your choice,” he continues.

Lebanese citizens, Netanyahu says, “can now take back your country. You can return it to a path of peace and prosperity.”

If they don’t, he argues, “Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense.”

He says that the Lebanese “deserve to restore Lebanon to its days of tranquility; you deserve a Lebanon that is different.”

“One Country — One Flag — One People,” he says, borrowing from the original US Pledge of Allegiance. “Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done.”

He exhorts the Lebanese to “stand up and take your country back.”

“Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end,” he says.

“Free your country from Hezbollah so that your country can prosper again, so that future generations of Lebanese and Israeli children will know neither war nor bloodshed, but will finally live together in peace.”

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