Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah has officially confirmed the death of Hashem Saffieddine, who was supposed to be the successor of slain militia leader Hassan Nasrallah. Safieddine, who was reported dead on Tuesday by the Israeli army, was also the cousin to the late Nasrallah. The Israeli Defense Forces said he had been killed in a strike some three weeks ago. Hezbollah called him “a great leader and a great martyr on the road to Jerusalem, the Chairman of the Executive Council of Hezbollah,” adding he was killed in “an aggressive criminal Zionist raid.”