Mustafa Badreddine, the Hezbollah commander who was killed in an explosion in Syria last week, will be replaced by his nephew, who is also the son of another killed Hezbollah commander, the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Tuesday.

Mustafa Mughniyeh, the son of the late Imad Mughniyeh, has been appointed as the replacement for Badreddine, who was married to the elder Mughniyeh’s sister. Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a 2008 explosion in Damascus.

Information about the younger Mughniyeh has been kept away from the public “based on a decision by the party to give him high-ranking posts,” Asharq reported. There are no known photographs of him—he wasn’t even seen in a Mughniyeh family picture taken in Tehran in 1987 after his birth. Mustafa was reportedly named for Badreddine, who was jailed in Kuwait at the time for his role in the 1983 terror attacks against the American and French embassies.

Mustafa Mughniyeh began joining his father on missions in 2005, when he turned 18, Ronen Solomon, an Israeli expert on Hezbollah, explained to Ynet last year. After Imad Mughniyeh’s death, Mustafa’s younger brother, Jihad, was given more publicity, while the older brother’s activities were shrouded in secrecy. Solomon believes that Hezbollah shielded Mustafa in order “to ensure that in the future he will be included in secret missions, such as those carried out by the 910 unit (Hezbollah’s unit in charge of overseas attacks), led by his uncle Mustafa Badreddine.” Jihad Mughniyeh was killed in an air strike in January 2015, along with a general from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and several other high-ranking Hezbollah terrorists.

Sources told Asharq that IRGC-Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was reportedly nearby when Badreddine was killed, traveled to Beirut to make the arrangements for Mustafa Mughniyeh to replace his uncle. Soleimani remains under a United Nations travel ban due to his support for terror.

[Photo: CCTV News / YouTube ]