10/29/2024

Hezbollah Picks Naim Qassem as its New Leader

He will succeed Hassan Nasrallah

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced that Naim Qassem will become its new leader, replacing long-standing chief Hassan Nasrallah, who Israel assassinated just over a month ago.

Hezbollah’s main decision-making body, the Shura Council, agreed to make Qassem, who’s been deputy leader since 1991, the new secretary-general, the group announced on Telegram on Tuesday.

Qassem, who’s in his early 70s and used to teach chemistry, was not the obvious successor. Most analysts thought that would be Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah. Yet he was killed in a separate Israeli airstrike on Beirut in early October.

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