Hezbollah elects leader, drawing warning reign may be 'shortest'

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said yesterday it had elected deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut's southern suburb over a month ago.

The group said its Shura council had elected Qassem, 71, in accordance with its established mechanism.

He was appointed as Hezbollah's deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group's then-chief Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the next year.

Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been a leading spokesmen, giving interviews to foreign media, even as hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.

Nasrallah was killed on September 27, and senior figure Hashem Safieddine - considered the most likely successor - died in an airstrike a week later.

Since Nasrallah's killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on October 8 in which he said the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon.

He is considered by many in Lebanon to lack the charisma and gravitas of Nasrallah.

The Israeli government's Arabic account on X posted, "His tenure may be the shortest in the history of this terrorist organization if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors Nasrallah and Safieddine."

REUTERS