Israel Uncovers New Hezbollah Route to Transfer Weapons from Iran to Lebanon

A picture shows the Syrian flag swaying in the wind at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on October 1, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)
A picture shows the Syrian flag swaying in the wind at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on October 1, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)
TT
20

Israel Uncovers New Hezbollah Route to Transfer Weapons from Iran to Lebanon

A picture shows the Syrian flag swaying in the wind at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on October 1, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)
A picture shows the Syrian flag swaying in the wind at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on October 1, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)

Israel accused on Friday a senior official in the Hezbollah party of opening a new route to transfer weapons from Iran to Lebanon.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said that Rida Hashem Safieddine was overseeing the route.

Safieddine is the husband of Zeinab, the daughter of slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in 2020.

He is also the son of Hashem Safieddine, head of the Hezbollah executive council and considered the most senior official in the party after its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

He also happens to be Nasrallah's cousin.

His uncle is Abdullah Safieddine, Hezbollah's representative in Iran.

Adraee said Safieddine Sr. was probably exploiting his family relations, his high rank, and Lebanese infrastructure to help his son transfer "strategic" weapons from Iran to Hezbollah.

In a series of tweets, he added that Hashem Safieddine was using his position to communicate with Hezbollah supporters and follow up on the party's activities among the Shiite population in Lebanon. He was also communicating with prominent figures in Lebanon and managing media and communications.

He said that since Zeinab lives in Iran, her husband, Rida, who is based in Lebanon, often visits her several times a month.

He uses his trips for military purposes and meets with officials in Iran to coordinate the transfer of weapons on civilian flights from Iran to Damascus International Airport, "putting the lives of passengers in imminent danger, just as the terrorist Hezbollah does when it exploits the Lebanese state and citizens to serve Iran."

Adraee warned that the Israeli army will continue to monitor all of Hezbollah's attempts at threatening the Israeli state's security and that it will do everything it needs to protect itself and its citizens.



Al Shabaab Captures Strategic Somalia Town as it Presses Offensive

Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME
Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME
TT
20

Al Shabaab Captures Strategic Somalia Town as it Presses Offensive

Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME
Vehicles of the Somali special police forces are parked during a handover ceremony in Mogadishu, Somalia, 14 April 2025. EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME

Al Shabaab fighters captured a town in central Somalia on Wednesday that government forces had been using as a staging area to drive back an offensive by the militants that has gained ground in recent weeks, residents and soldiers said.
Advances by the al Qaeda affiliate, which included briefly capturing villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu last month, have left residents of the capital on edge as rumors swirl that al Shabaab could target the city.
The army has recaptured those villages, but al Shabaab continues to advance in the countryside, leading the government to deploy police officers and prison guards to support the military, soldiers have told Reuters.
Six residents and three soldiers said al Shabaab seized the town of Adan Yabaal, which lies around 245 km (150 miles) north of Mogadishu, in heavy fighting on Wednesday.
"After many hours of fighting we made a tactical retreat," said Aden Ismail, a military officer who transported injured soldiers to the nearby Hiiraan region.
The army and allied clan militias have been using Adan Yabaal as an operating base for raids against al Shabaab.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who hails from the area, visited the town last month to meet with military commanders there about sending reinforcements.
"If al Shabaab captures one town, that does not mean they overpowered us," Mohamud said in a speech on Wednesday, without directly naming the town. "There is a big difference between a war and a battle."
Al Shabaab said in a statement that its forces had overrun 10 military installations during Wednesday's fighting.
"After early morning prayers, we heard a deafening explosion, then gunfire," Fatuma Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters by telephone from Adan Yabaal. "Al Shabaab attacked us from two directions."
National government officials were either not reachable or did not respond to requests for comment.
The fighting comes as the future of international security support to Somalia has grown increasingly precarious.
A new African Union peacekeeping mission replaced a larger force at the start of the year, but its funding is uncertain, with the United States opposed to a plan to transition to a UN financing model.