What do we know about Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem?

Hezbollah’s new secretary-general is Naim Qassem, the longtime number two to the late Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated by Israel on September 27.

Hezbollah announced the appointment on Tuesday via its Telegram channel.

Who is Naim Qassem?

Qassem has a long history in Shia political activism and has been deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah since 1991 when Abbas al-Musawi was secretary-general.

Al-Musawi was also assassinated by Israel.

Qassem was born in the Nabatieh governorate’s Kfar Kila, a southern Lebanese village that has suffered through many Israeli attacks, especially since last October.

One of Qassem’s religious mentors was the widely respected Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, and Qassem himself has taught religious classes for decades in Beirut.

Has Qassem always been with Hezbollah?

Not always.

In the 1970s, he joined the late Imam Musa al-Sadr’s Movement of the Dispossessed, which eventually became part of the Amal Movement in Lebanon.

A new, different leader

After Nasrallah’s assassination, some speculated that Hezbollah’s Shura Council might wait for the end of Israel’s war on Lebanon to elect a new leader, but Qassem was chosen amid a war that may shape the group’s future.