Safieddine, a key figure in the Lebanese resistance movement, was killed alongside several of his fellow fighters, in what the Resistance condemned as a "criminal and aggressive Zionist airstrike."

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Hezbollah said Safieddine was 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.

“Sayyed Hashem has now joined his brother, our most revered and beloved martyr, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” the statement read.

“He was his brother, his right hand, his banner bearer, his trusted confidant in times of hardship, and his dependable companion during difficulties,” it added.