The brand new secretary basic of Hezbollah is Naim Qassem, the previous quantity two of the late Hassan Nasrallah, assassinated by Israel on September 27.
Hezbollah introduced the appointment on Tuesday through its Telegram channel.
Who’s Naim Qassem?
Qassem has a protracted historical past of Shiite political activism and has been deputy secretary basic of Hezbollah since 1991, when Abbas al-Musawi was secretary basic.
Al-Musawi was additionally killed by Israel.
“He hoped to change into secretary basic of Hezbollah when Musawi was assassinated in 1992,” Nicholas Blanford, a non-resident senior fellow on the Atlantic Council’s Center East program, instructed Al Jazeera.
“The Shura Council selected Nasrallah, who was Musawi’s prodigy.”
Qassem was born in Kfar Kila, within the Nabatieh governorate, a village in southern Lebanon that has suffered many Israeli assaults, particularly since final October.
Considered one of Qassem’s non secular mentors was the extremely revered Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, and Qassem himself has taught faith courses for many years in Beirut.
Has Qassem at all times been with Hezbollah?
Not at all times.
Within the Seventies, he joined the late Imam Musa al-Sadr’s Motion of the Dispossessed, which ultimately turned a part of the Amal Motion in Lebanon.
He left Amal and helped discovered Hezbollah in 1982, turning into one of many group’s founding clerics.
What has been your position in Hezbollah?
Hezbollah’s secretive nature signifies that solely a few of Qassem’s features are public information.
At one level, he oversaw a part of Hezbollah’s academic community and was additionally concerned in overseeing the group’s parliamentary actions.
He has performed an essential public position in Hezbollah over time and can be a member of the group’s Shura Council.
In 2005 he revealed a e book titled Hezbollah, the story from inside, which was translated into a number of languages.
A brand new and completely different chief
After Nasrallah’s assassination, some speculated that Hezbollah’s Shura Council may wait till the top of Israel’s warfare towards Lebanon to elect a brand new chief, however Qassem was chosen in the course of a warfare which will form the group’s future.
Qassem is a well-known face who has given many interviews. He addressed Hezbollah supporters after the assassination of Nasrallah.
He wears a white turban, not like Nasrallah and Safieddine whose black turbans marked their descent from the prophet.
Instantly after Nasrallah’s assassination, there have been two candidates to switch him: Qassem and Hashem Safieddine, who headed the chief council.
Safieddine was attacked just a few days after Israel assassinated Nasrallah, however his loss of life was not introduced for a few weeks, allegedly as a result of the truth that Israeli army strikes impeded the rescue course of.
A lot of Hezbollah’s army management has been killed by Israel in simply over a month and its inside political allies have begun to distance themselves from the group.
“Finally, he is without doubt one of the final figures standing from the political and spiritual management cadre who was eligible to be elected secretary basic,” Blanford stated. “It does not shock me in any respect. “It was a transparent choice.”
“I do not suppose it indicators a change, in any case, Qassem is an indication of continuity. [for Hezbollah].”