Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, named Naim Qassem, its longtime deputy leader, as its new secretary general on Tuesday, replacing Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last month. Israel responded to the announcement saying his tenure would be “temporary”, an apparent threat.
Hezbollah said Qassem had been chosen by its Shura Council, a senior leadership body, “in adherence to the principles and goals of Hezbollah.” Qassem, 71, now must lead his battered organisation through tremendous challenges. Israel is committed to pushing the group’s forces and military infrastructure away from Lebanon-Israel border and has destroyed some of its tunnels, bunkers and sophisticated munitions.
Qassem has been Hezbollah’s primary voice since the killing of Nasrallah. While he has hinted that Hezbollah is open to diplomacy aimed at ending the war, he has indicated no broader shift in the group’s direction, pledging its fighters were ready to battle Israeli troops invading Lebanon. Earlier this month, Kassem said Hezbollah’s military capabilities were intact after Nasrallah’s assassination.
As leader of Hezbollah, Qassem will have a key role in truce negotiations and may have to decide if Hezbollah will accept a ceasefire for Lebanon that is not linked to a similar agreement in Gaza. For the past year, Hezbollah has said it would stop fighting only when Israeli attacks on Gaza stopped, too. Qassem was born in 1953 in Beirut. He studied chemistry at Lebanese University before working for several years as a chemistry teacher. He has been involved with Hezbollah since its formation, with Iran’s support, in the early 1980s. In 1991, under a previous secretary general, Abbas al-Musawi, Qassem was appointed the group’s deputy leader. After Israel killed al-Musawi in 1992, Nasrallah was elevated to the top position and Qassem remained deputy. He has never had the towering stature among Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon and elsewhere in West Asia that Nasrallah did.