Hezbollah has officially appointed Naim Qassem as its new head, succeeding Hassan Nasrallah, who was Martyred in late September during an Israeli strike in Beirut.
Qassem, who was previously the deputy leader, was announced as the new secretary-general of the Lebanon-based armed group on Tuesday.
The decision to promote Qassem comes amid heightened tensions, as several senior Hezbollah officials have been targeted following Israel’s intensified focus on the group. In its statement, Hezbollah highlighted Qassem’s election as a testament to his strong commitment to the principles and goals of the organization.
It added that the group would “[ask] God Almighty to guide him in this noble mission in leading Hezbollah and its Islamic resistance”.
Vacuum
The killing of Nasrallah, who embodied the Lebanese Shia movement in the eyes of its supporters and the wider region, was seen as having left a vacuum inside a group that had already lost much of its leadership as a result of months of Israeli assassinations.
Nasrallah’s cousin Hashem Safieddine was previously viewed as the favourite to take the helm of the Iran-linked Hezbollah, but he died in an Israeli strike on Beirut shortly after his relative.
The 71-year-old Qassem has often been referred to as Hezbollah’s “number two”. He is one of the religious scholars who founded the group in the early 1980s and has a long history in Shia political activism.
He was the most senior Hezbollah official to continue making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding following the group’s 2006 war with Israel.
Since the former leader was killed, Qassem has made three televised addresses, speaking in more formal Arabic than the colloquial Lebanese favoured by Nasrallah.
On September 30, he issued a defiant message, saying that Hezbollah remains ready to fight Israel and to win.
Source: Express Tribune