Russia Says It Struck Two Syrian Militant Sites

File photo: A Syrian army soldier stands next to a Syrian flag in Umm al-Mayazen, in the countryside of Daraa, Syria, July 10, 2018. (Reuters)
File photo: A Syrian army soldier stands next to a Syrian flag in Umm al-Mayazen, in the countryside of Daraa, Syria, July 10, 2018. (Reuters)
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Russia Says It Struck Two Syrian Militant Sites

File photo: A Syrian army soldier stands next to a Syrian flag in Umm al-Mayazen, in the countryside of Daraa, Syria, July 10, 2018. (Reuters)
File photo: A Syrian army soldier stands next to a Syrian flag in Umm al-Mayazen, in the countryside of Daraa, Syria, July 10, 2018. (Reuters)

Russia's air force carried out strikes on two militant sites in Syria outside the area of al-Tanf, Russia's RIA state news agency reported on Sunday, referring to the region of a US military base.
Citing Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, the report did not specify the location but said the militants had recently left the al-Tanf area, which borders Jordan, according to Reuters.
"Russian Aerospace Forces have struck two identified sites of militants who left the al-Tanf zone," RIA quoted Ignasyuk, who is also deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, as telling a briefing.



Lebanese Security Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Safieddine Likely Killed in Israeli Strike

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanese Security Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Safieddine Likely Killed in Israeli Strike

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)

A Lebanese security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah as secretary general of Hezbollah in Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut last week.

It added that the Iran-backed party has so far refrained from announcing his death until it can retrieve his corpse.

Israeli drones have been flying around the clock for the fifth consecutive day over the targeted area that its jets bombed with around 73 tons of explosives.

The Israeli army said it had struck a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters.

An Israeli a government spokesperson said on Monday that Tel Aviv could not confirm Safieddine was killed in the attack.

Asked if Israel could confirm the death, spokesperson David Mencer told an online briefing: "We don't have that confirmation yet. When it is confirmed, as and when, it will be on the IDF (Israeli military) website."

A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed the area on Thursday.

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' deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.