Hezbollah confirms death of Hashem Safieddine

Hezbollah has for the first time confirmed that Hashem Safieddine, the head of it's executive council, was killed in an Israeli air strike. 

"He departed to his Lord with the best of his mujahideen brothers, satisfied, content, patient and hopeful, in a criminal, aggressive Zionist raid," the group said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Speculation about the fate of Safieddine, cousin of slain former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, has swirled around since early October, after heavy Israeli bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs.