Potential Hezbollah leader out of contact after Israeli strike: Source

His loss would be another blow to group, as heavy Israeli bombardment rocks Beirut

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BEIRUT - Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, has been out of contact since Oct 4, a Lebanese security source said on Oct 6, after an Israeli air strike that is reported to have targeted him.

The Israeli military said it eliminated Nasrallah in a strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut on Sept 27. Hezbollah confirmed he was killed.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli strikes since Oct 4 on Dahiyeh, a residential area and Hezbollah stronghold south of central Beirut, have kept rescue workers from scouring the site of an Oct 3 attack.

Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine.

His loss would be another blow to the group and its patron Iran. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in recent weeks, have devastated Hezbollah's leadership.

Israeli air attacks battered Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and early on Oct 6, the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Hezbollah.

Orange fireballs and thick black smoke could be seen across Beirut for nearly 30 minutes and from several kilometres away.

It was Israel's single biggest bombardment of Beirut so far, witnesses and military analysts on local TV channels said.

On Oct 6, a grey haze hung over the city and rubble was strewn across streets in its southern suburbs.