Israel on Tuesday confirmed it has killed Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who died in an earlier Israeli attack targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.

The military said Safieddine was killed in a strike carried out three weeks ago in Beirut's southern suburbs, its first confirmation of his death. Earlier this month, Israel said he had probably been eliminated.

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah to Israel's statement that it had killed Safieddine.