Comment on Israel is trying to dismantle Hezbollah's leadership, but there's a big problem

Israel is trying to dismantle Hezbollah's leadership, but there's a big problem

Israel has targeted Hezbollah's key figures in a bid to dismantle the group. A portrait of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah sits amid debris in Beirut.-/AFP via Getty ImagesIsrael has been targeting Hezbollah's leaders with a series of air strikes.Hezbollah's leadership crisis may lead to internal power struggles and strategic shifts.Experts say more radical leaders could emerge, and they may strike back with devastating force.Israel is continuing its relentless campaign to dismantle Hezbollah's leadership.Two weeks ago, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's chief of 32 years, was assassinated in a targeted Israeli airstrike.More recently, Israel's military said it had killed a Hezbollah member who had been gathering intelligence against Israel in Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.Other Hezbollah leaders believed to have been killed by Israel include Fu'ad Shakar, the group's strategic array commander, Ali Karaki, head of Hezbollah's southern front, and Ibrahim Aqeel, chief of Hezbollah's military operations directorate.Meanwhile, Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah's cousin and the man widely touted as next in line to lead the group, has been missing since Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs last week.Israel says it killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut.Chris McGrathIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that "Nasrallah's replacement, and the replacement of his replacement," had been killed by Israeli forces." It's unclear whether he was referring to Safieddine."Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it's been for many, many years," Netanyahu added.While Hezbollah's leadership has suffered a serious blow, experts believe that a power vacuum has emerged, paving the way for more radical leaders that could strike back with devastating force.A fight for leadershipMohammed Albasha, a US-based Middle East security analyst, told Business Insider that Hezbollah's search for a new leader could lead to a "temporary power struggle or internal fragmentation" that could initially weaken its influence in Lebanon.Albasha said this could destabilize the group and alter its "political and military strategies."However, he added that this would be temporary, and the conflict would likely escalate."There is a blow for the group, to be sure," Antony Loewenstein, author of "The Palestine Laboratory," told Sky News.

 

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