Hezbollah’s new secretary-general is Naim Qassem, the longtime quantity two to the overdue Hassan Nasrallah who used to be assassinated via Israel on September 27.
Hezbollah introduced the appointment on Tuesday by the use of its Telegram channel.
Who’s Naim Qassem?
Qassem has a protracted historical past in Shia political activism and has been deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah since 1991 when Abbas al-Musawi used to be secretary-general.
Al-Musawi used to be additionally assassinated via Israel.
“He used to be hoping to grow to be Hezbollah’s secretary-general when Musawi used to be killed in 1992,” Nicholas Blanford, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Center East programme, advised Al Jazeera.
“The Shura Council elected Nasrallah, who used to be Musawi’s prodigy.”
Qassem used to be born within the Nabatieh governorate’s Kfar Kila, a southern Lebanese village that has suffered via many Israeli assaults, particularly since ultimate October.
One among Qassem’s spiritual mentors used to be the commonly revered Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, and Qassem himself has taught spiritual categories for many years in Beirut.
Has Qassem all the time been with Hezbollah?
Now not all the time.
Within the Nineteen Seventies, he joined the overdue Imam Musa al-Sadr’s Motion of the Dispossessed, which in the end changed into a part of the Amal Motion in Lebanon.
He left Amal and helped get started Hezbollah in 1982, turning into one of the vital staff’s foundational clerics.
What has his position been in Hezbollah?
The secretive nature of Hezbollah way only a few of Qassem’s roles are public wisdom.
At one level, he oversaw a part of Hezbollah’s tutorial community and has additionally been keen on overseeing the crowd’s parliamentary actions.
He has performed a very powerful public-facing position in Hezbollah through the years, and may be a member of the crowd’s Shura Council.
He famously revealed a guide referred to as, Hizbullah, the Tale from Inside, in 2005, which used to be translated into a number of languages.
Lebanese staff Hezbollah’s new chief Sheikh Naim Qassem speaks throughout a rally supporting Palestinians in Gaza, on October 13, 2023 [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
A brand new, other chief
After Nasrallah’s assassination, some speculated that Hezbollah’s Shura Council would possibly watch for the top of Israel’s warfare on Lebanon to elect a brand new chief, however Qassem used to be selected amid a warfare that can form the crowd’s long term.
Qassem is a well-known face who has given many interviews. He addressed Hezbollah’s fans following Nasrallah’s assassination.
He wears a white turban, in contrast to Nasrallah and Safieddine whose black turbans signalled descendance from the prophet.
In an instant after Nasrallah’s assassination, there have been two applicants to switch him: Qassem and Hashem Safieddine, who headed the chief council.
Safieddine used to be centered a couple of days after Israel assassinated Nasrallah however his dying wasn’t introduced for a few weeks, reportedly because of the truth that Israeli army moves impeded the rescue procedure.
A lot of Hezbollah’s army management has been assassinated via Israel in somewhat over a month and its home political allies have began to place distance between themselves and the crowd.
“In the end, he’s one of the vital ultimate status figures of the political and spiritual management cadre that used to be eligible to be elected secretary-general,” Blanford stated. “I’m now not stunned in any respect. It used to be a straight forward determination.”
“I don’t suppose it alerts a metamorphosis, if the rest, Qassem is an indication of continuity [for Hezbollah].”
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