Hezbollah names Naim Qassem as new leader

Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement announced Tuesday it has chosen deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed Hasan Nasrallah as leader after his death in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.

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

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

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

The source, who spoke anonymously because he is not authorised to speak to the press, said a new Shura Council would be elected after the war’s end.

The council may then opt to elect a new leader or keep Qassem in the top post, the source said.

Qassem had long operated in the shadows of Nasrallah, a towering leader who was one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in the Middle East.

Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, was initially tipped to succeed Nasrallah.

But he too was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs shortly after Nasrallah’s assassination.

Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, welcomed Qassem’s election.