The Lebanese Hezbollah group announced today that it has chosen deputy leader Naim Qassem to succeed Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern outskirts of Beirut more than a month ago, reports Reuters.
The group said its Shura Council had chosen 71-year-old Qassem, in accordance with its established mechanism for selecting the secretary-general.
He was appointed deputy head of Hezbollah in 1991 by the group’s then secretary general, Abbas al-Mousavi, who was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.
Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, giving interviews to foreign media, including as cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the past year.
Nasrallah was assassinated on September 27, and senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, who was seen as the most likely successor, was killed in Israeli strikes a week later.
Since Nasrallah’s assassination, Qassim has given three televised addresses, including one on October 8 in which he said the group supported efforts to achieve a ceasefire for Lebanon.
Photo: IranPress
