Hezbollah chooses Naim Qassem as its new leader after the assassination of Nasrallah

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Tuesday it has chosen deputy chief Naim Qassem to succeed slain Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed more than a month ago in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The group said in a written statement that the Shura Council had chosen Qassem, 71, in accordance with the established mechanism for electing a secretary general.

He was appointed deputy head of Hezbollah in 1991 by the armed group’s then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter strike the following year.

Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s main spokesmen. He conducted interviews with foreign media, including as cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the past year.

Nasrallah was assassinated on September 27, and senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine – seen as the most likely successor – was killed in Israeli attacks a week later.

Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has made three televised speeches, including one on October 8, in which he said the armed group supported efforts to broker a ceasefire for Lebanon.