Corrective: Contrary to a first formulation that might suggest that Naïm Qassem had been directly targeted, the Israeli army actually claims to have killed, during a strike conducted on Wednesday in the Beirut area,Ali Youssouf Harchipresented as the personal secretary and nephew of the Hezbollah leader. It is therefore an important corrective action on the identity of the person concerned.
The Israeli army said on Thursday that it killedAli Youssouf Harchiin a strike carried out the previous day in the Beirut area. In a statement, she presented it as thePersonal Secretaryandnephewof theNaim QassemHead of Hezbollah. She adds that he was a « close collaborator » and a « personal adviser » to the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement.
According to the same statement, Ali Youssouf Harchi « played a central role in the management and security » of the office of Naïm Qassem. The announcement comes in a context of very strong military escalation in Lebanon, following a series of particularly deadly Israeli strikes on Beirut and other parts of the country.
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Important Corrigendum:Israel therefore does not claim to have killedNaim QassemHe himself, nor a leader presented as the « head of Hezbollah » in this precise strike. Israeli army claims to have targetedthe personal secretary of the Hezbollah leaderThis significantly changes the scope of the information.
If this announcement is confirmed, it would nevertheless signal an Israeli will to strike the immediate entourage of the Hizbullah leadership, even in the management and security structures of his chief’s office. By targeting such a close figure, Israel also seeks to show that it maintains an operational penetration capability as close to the movement hierarchy.
At this stage, the available evidence therefore relates to the alleged death ofAli Youssouf Harchi, and not on that of Naim Qassem. In this type of sequence, caution remains essential, and this patch is intended precisely to restore the exact identity of the person the Israeli army claims to have killed.
