Hezbollah elected Naim Qassem to succeed the assassinated leader Nasrallah.
Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group announced on October 29 that it had elected its deputy leader, Naim Qassem, to succeed its assassinated secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut more than a month ago.
The group said in a written statement that its Shura Council had elected Qassem, 71, through an established mechanism for selecting the secretary-general.
Qassem was appointed deputy leader of Hezbollah in 1991 by the armed group's then-secretary-general, Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.
Qassem retained that role when Nasrallah became leader and has long been one of Hezbollah's top spokespersons, giving interviews to foreign media, including during the intense cross-border fighting with Israel over the past year.
Nasrallah was assassinated on September 27, and Hezbollah's senior figure Hashem Safieddine – considered the most likely successor – was also killed in Israeli airstrikes a week later.
Since Nasrallah's assassination, Qassem has given three televised speeches, including one on October 8th, in which he stated that the armed group supports efforts to achieve a ceasefire for Lebanon.
