Lebanon-based resistance group Hezbollah has officially elected Naim Qassem as its new chief. The announcement was made on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, by Hezbollah’s main decision-making body Shura Council.
The group confirmed Qassem’s election by the group’s established procedures for leadership selection and the decision was announced on Telegram.
This decision came weeks following the assassination of former chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike on September 27.
Qassem, previously served as the deputy of the group. Following Nasrallah’s assassination he released a video statement promising that Hezbollah would win. He stated, “We are ready and fully equipped for a ground war with the Zionists. The fight with the Zionists is long. We are ready to consider any option. We will defeat the Zionists just as we defeated them in 2006”.
His election comes amid an intense military engagement with Israeli forces which has witnessed significant casualties from both sides.
Who is Naim Qassem?
Lebanese Shia activist Qassem was born in 1953 in Beirut He actively participated in political activities of the Amal Movement. However, he left the group in 1979 after the Islamic revolution in Iran which affected his political perception. He played a key role in establishing Hezbollah following the Israeli incursion into Lebanon in 1982 with the backing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Rise within Hezbollah
Qassem was appointed as the deputy chief of Hezbollah in 1991 by the movement’s leader Abbas al-Musawi who was killed by sponsors a year later. He continued to be in this position when Nasrallah assumed leadership of the organization and has been a member of the organization for more than 30 years now. Qassem has been a spokesman for Hezbollah on various occasions especially during times of conflicts such as those with Israel due to his ability to articulate speeches and the strategic information he holds.
(This is a breaking story. More details will be added as they emerge.)