Hezbollah names deputy leader Naim Qassem as secretary-general, successor to Nasrallah
Qassem, deputy secretary since 1991, has served as acting leader since Israel killed Nasrallah last month; Israel says his tenure ‘may be the shortest in the history’ of Hezbollah
Hezbollah announced on Monday that deputy head Naim Qassem will serve as its secretary-general, succeeding slain chief Hassan Nasrallah as the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group.
A longtime deputy to Nasrallah, Qassem has served as the terror group’s acting leader since Israel killed Nasrallah in a strike in Beirut last month.
The presumed successor to Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut earlier this month before he was officially named secretary-general. He was presumed dead after a series of strikes targeted a Hezbollah compound in southern Beirut in early October, and his death was officially announced last week.
Qassem, Hezbollah’s new leader, was born in 1953 in southern Lebanon. He served as a Shiite cleric and educator until the late 1970s, when he joined the Amal terror group and political party during the Lebanese civil war.
When a number of Amal members split from the party to found Hezbollah in 1982, Qassem followed and was appointed deputy leader in 1991 under founding leader Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.
Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader in 1992, and served as his deputy until Nasrallah’s death.
Qassem has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, but he is considered by many in Lebanon to lack the charisma and gravitas of Nasrallah.
Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on September 30, days after Nasrallah was killed, where he appeared to be sweating profusely while reading prepared remarks.
“Despite the losses of its commanders, the attacks against civilians throughout Lebanon, and great sacrifices, we will not budge from our position,” Qassem said in that speech from an undisclosed location in Beirut. “We will continue to support Gaza and to defend Lebanon.”
According to a report by UAE-based Erem News, after the deaths of Nasrallah and Safieddine, Qassem fled Lebanon on an Iranian plane in early October and is currently residing in Tehran.
‘The countdown has begun’
Reacting to Qassem’s appointment, the Israeli government’s official Arabic account on X posted, “His tenure in this position may be the shortest in the history of this terrorist organization if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.”
“There is no solution in Lebanon except to dismantle this organization as a military force,” it wrote.
“Temporary appointment. Not for long,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X alongside a picture of Qassem. “The countdown has begun.”
Since October 8 of last year, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, firing over 12,600 missiles and drones into Israeli territory, according to IDF data.
Some 60,000 Israeli residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack.
The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 32 civilians. In addition, 60 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.
The IDF estimates that more than 2,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
