Hezbollah on Wednesday confirmed that Hashem Safieddine, a top official who was expected to be the next leader of the Lebanese militia and political party, was killed in Israeli airstrike, according to The Associated Press.

Top Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike. He was a strongman who rose through the ranks of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group over decades to become the second-most powerful person within the organization.

Hashem Safieddine, whose killing was confirmed by Hezbollah on Wednesday, briefly helped run Lebanon's strongest military and political force as the presumed successor to its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah,