Key Factors
- Deputy head Naim Qassem has been chosen by Hezbollah as its new chief.
- Qassem was elected by the five-member Shura Council, the group’s predominant decision-making physique.
- He was one in all Hezbollah’s founders in 1982 and had been the get together’s deputy secretary normal since 1991.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah motion has introduced it has chosen deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as chief after on south Beirut final month.
“Hezbollah’s (governing) Shura Council agreed to elect… Sheikh Naim Qassem as secretary normal of Hezbollah,” the Iran-backed group mentioned in an announcement, greater than a month after Nasrallah’s killing.
Qassem was elected by the five-member Shura Council, the group’s predominant decision-making physique, two days earlier than Tuesday’s announcement, a supply near Hezbollah mentioned.
The supply, who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of he isn’t authorised to talk to the press, mentioned a brand new Shura Council can be elected after the top of the struggle.
The council could then choose to elect a brand new chief or preserve Qassem within the prime publish, the supply mentioned.
Qassem had lengthy operated within the shadows of Nasrallah, a towering chief who was one of the influential figures within the Center East.
Hashem Safieddine, the pinnacle of Hezbollah’s govt council, was initially tipped to succeed Nasrallah.
However he, too, was on Beirut’s southern suburbs shortly after Nasrallah’s assassination.
Who’s Naim Qassem?
Qassem, 71, was one in all Hezbollah’s founders in 1982 and had been the get together’s deputy secretary normal since 1991, the yr earlier than Nasrallah took the helm.
He was born in Beirut in 1953 to a household from the village of Kfar Fila on the border with Israel.
He was probably the most senior Hezbollah official to proceed making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding following the group’s 2006 struggle with Israel.
Since Nasrallah’s dying in an enormous Israeli air strike on 27 September, Qassem has made three televised addresses.
Naim Qassem was one in all Hezbollah’s founders in 1982, and has been the get together’s deputy secretary normal since 1991. Supply: EPA, AAP / Wael Hamzeh
He claimed Hezbollah’s army capabilities had been intact and backed efforts by parliament speaker Nabih Berri to dealer a ceasefire.
In his final speech on, 15 October, Qassem mentioned a ceasefire was the one means Israel may assure the return of its residents to the north.
The Israel-Hezbollah struggle erupted final month after practically a yr of cross-border fireplace.
On 23 September, Israel ramped up strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and despatched in floor forces whereas killing one member of the group’s prime management after one other.
The struggle has killed greater than 1,700 individuals in Lebanon since September 23, in line with an AFP tally of well being ministry figures, although the actual quantity is probably going increased as a consequence of gaps within the knowledge.
The Israeli army says it has misplaced 37 troopers in its Lebanon marketing campaign because it launched floor operations on September 30.
