AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran has extended his condolences on the assassination of senior Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hashem Safieddine in an Israeli strike in Lebanon.
“This great man of jihad and martyrdom, inspired by the teachings of Ashura, courageously dedicated his entire life to defending the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon and strengthening the resistance front,” Pezeshkian said in a statement on Wednesday.
“He left behind a brilliant legacy of struggle and resistance in the path of Islam and the fight against oppression and tyranny, which will forever remain bright and inspiring,” the president added.
The Lebanese resistance movement announced earlier in the day that Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, had been martyred in "a brutal and aggressive Zionist airstrike."
Safieddine was widely expected to be formally elected as Hezbollah’s next secretary general after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on September 27.
The Hezbollah statement did not clarify the time and place of the assassination, but the Israeli regime said on Tuesday Safieddine was killed in an airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs three weeks ago.
The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami also issued a message of condolence on Wednesday.
Salami said the events unfolding in the strategically important West Asia region, particularly in Lebanon and Palestine, show the Western powers are fully intent on "sacrificing humanity and resistance" to preserve the Zionist regime.
“However, the warriors trained in the school of Islam and martyrdom, through their selflessness, sacrifices, and unparalleled historical heroism, will nullify the aspirations and hopes of the devils in this arena,” the IRGC chief noted.
“The day will not be far off when this cancerous tumor of Israel is eradicated from the geography of the Islamic Ummah,” he said.
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