All eyes are on the next moves of the key players in the Middle East’s “war chessboard” as the global community watches with bated breath the dangerous escalation in the region, following the elimination of Nasrallah, whose body was recovered from the wreckage.

A new round of hostilities is recorded between Israel and Lebanon, while Israel’s front, with Yemen’s Houthis, has also caught fire.

The Israeli military launched strikes against the port and power infrastructure of Hodeidah, a city in western Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels, with Iran condemning the strikes.

According to the Houthi government’s Ministry of Health, today’s strikes in Yemen killed four people and wounded 29 others.

Highly symbolic visit to Iran

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is expected to visit Iran tomorrow, Monday, and meet with the country’s President Massoud Pezheskian, Moscow announced, at a time when American forces are being strengthened in the Middle East.

“Special attention” will be paid to the implementation of large-scale joint projects in the field of transport, energy, industry, agriculture and others, the Russian government said in its statement. Mishustin will also hold talks with Iran’s Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.

However, everyone’s attention falls on the timing of this particular visit. This is the time when Iran will have to decide how to respond to the death of Hassan Nasrallah.

Two trends in Iran

And right now in Iran there seem to be two groups, two trends. On the one hand, the hard-liners who say that we should attack here and now, that there be revenge to restore the prestige of the Axis of Resistance, and on the other, the moderates. Among them is President Pezheskian, who stress that such a broader strike, an escalation, is currently only in the interest of Netanyahu, who “wants to throw us into this trap.”

Nasrallah’s successor

In the Hezbollah camp, the immediate priority is the selection of Nasrallah’s successor. Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hadath reports that Hezbollah’s central executive council has named Hashem Safyeddin as the organization’s new secretary general. However, there is still no official announcement from Hezbollah. As seen in the New York Times graphic, Israel has wiped out the entire leadership of the Jihad Council. This is Hezbollah’s Military Operations Council. Estimates have converged that the most likely successor to Hassan Nasrallah is Hashem Safieddine. He is the man who looks second in the top row. Safieddine is a clergyman. He is also Nasrallah’s cousin, with almost a common path within the organization. He has very good relations with Iran, as his son is married to the daughter of Qasem Soleimani, a big figure for Iran, and he is also on the US terrorist list since 2017.

Israel’s next steps

Israel’s next steps are also critical. It is interesting that the Israeli media themselves write that Netanyahu is currently not interested in a truce. He showed it by defeating Nasrallah. He needs hits that he can ‘give’, to celebrate as a very big victory because October 7th is coming up. It’s nearly a year since Hamas invaded southern Israel and still has at least 60 Israeli hostages, prisoners inside Gaza and 60,000 Israeli refugees inside the country. It is the Israelis who have abandoned the border with the North. Therefore, it will proceed with a ground operation in southern Lebanon.