Hezbollah names deputy chief Naim Qassem to succeed slain leader

Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement announced Tuesday that it has chosen its deputy head, Naim Qassem, to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as leader following Nasrallah’s death in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut last month.

“Hezbollah’s Shura Council agreed to elect… Sheikh Naim Qassem as secretary-general of Hezbollah,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement, over a month after Nasrallah’s killing.

Hezbollah pledged to keep “the flame of resistance burning” until victory is achieved against Israel, following an all-out war that erupted on September 23.

Israel responded quickly, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warning in a post on X that Qassem’s appointment was “not for long.” In a separate post in Hebrew, Gallant added, “the countdown has begun.”

Qassem was elected by the five-member Shura Council, Hezbollah’s main decision-making body, two days before Tuesday’s announcement, a source close to Hezbollah said.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to authorization restrictions, noted that a new Shura Council would be elected after the war. This council may choose either to retain Qassem in the leadership role or to elect a new leader.

Qassem had long operated in the shadow of Nasrallah, a towering leader known as one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in the Middle East. Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, was initially considered as Nasrallah’s successor but was also killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs shortly after Nasrallah’s death.

Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the ongoing Gaza conflict, welcomed Qassem’s election. “We consider this election evidence of the party’s recovery from the targeting of its leaders,” Hamas said in a statement, pledging “support for the new leadership.”

Qassem, 71, was one of Hezbollah’s founders in 1982 and had served as the party’s deputy secretary-general since 1991, a year before Nasrallah assumed leadership. He was born in Beirut in 1953 to a family from Kfar Fila, a village on the border with Israel.

As the most senior Hezbollah official to make public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding following the group’s 2006 war with Israel, Qassem has made three televised addresses since Nasrallah’s death on September 27.

Speaking in more formal Arabic than Nasrallah’s preferred Lebanese dialect, Qassem, with less charisma and oratory skill, stated that the group would soon name a new leader. He asserted that Hezbollah’s military capabilities remained intact and supported efforts by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri to broker a ceasefire.

In his most recent speech on October 15, Qassem said that a ceasefire was the only way for Israel to ensure the return of its residents to the north.

The Israel-Hezbollah war erupted last month after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire. On September 23, Israel intensified its strikes on Hezbollah strongholds, deploying ground forces and targeting high-ranking members of the group’s leadership.

The war has led to more than 1,700 fatalities in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on health ministry data, though the actual number is likely higher due to data gaps. Israel’s military reports the loss of 37 soldiers since it began ground operations in Lebanon on September 30.