The Hezbollah terrorist organization has accepted the resignation of senior security official Wafiq Safa, sources familiar with the group’s thinking told Reuters on Friday.
It is the first time an official of his rank has stepped down.
Safa, who heads Hezbollah's liaison and coordination unit that works with Lebanese security agencies, survived an Israeli attempt to eliminate him in October 2024.
A source told Reuters that "the resignation and its acceptance were part of an internal restructuring move" following losses Hezbollah sustained in last year's war with Israel. The source added that Hussein Abdullah was appointed to replace Safa.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 that ended more than a year of war between Israel and Hezbollah, though Hezbollah has continued to violate the ceasefire.
As part of the US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, the Hezbollah terrorist organization was required to disarm, beginning in areas south of the river that border Israel.
Lebanese authorities charged the Lebanese Armed Forces in August of last year to devise a plan ensuring a state monopoly on arms by year’s end.
Hezbollah, however, has condemned the Lebanese government's plan to disarm the terror organization and has repeatedly vowed to keep its arms.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem recently declared that the terror group will not give up its weapons, warning that such a move would mean "the end of Lebanon."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)