Who is the potential head of Hezbollah Naim Kasem?

Last Updated on October 11, 2024 6:15 am

Hashem Safiuddin was supposed to become the head of the organization after Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrullah was killed in an Israeli attack. However, he has not been found for the past few days. In this situation, the name of Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Kasem came forward on Tuesday. If all goes well, he is going to be the main leader of Hezbollah.

But the question is – who is this Naim Kasem?

The Hezbollah leader has been a senior figure in the Iran-backed movement for the past 30 years. who recently said he supported efforts by armed groups to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon.

In a recent speech from an undisclosed location, Qassem said, ‘There was a conflict between Hezbollah and Israel; who cries first I want to tell them that Hezbollah will not cry first. “Despite Israel’s ‘painful blow’, the group’s capabilities remain intact.”

After his announcement and a 30-minute speech, Kasem is being discussed. It is known that he was appointed deputy chief in 1991 by the then Secretary General of the Armed Forces, Abbas Al-Musawi. Musavir was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.

Qassem was in his role when Nasrallah became leader and has long been one of Hezbollah’s main spokesmen. Last year, he also gave an interview to foreign media about the cross border with Israel. And this time, after the recent tension, he addressed the television for the second time on Tuesday.

Qassem was the first member of Hezbollah’s top leadership to comment on television after Nasrullah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27. In a speech on September 30, Qassem said, “Hezbollah will choose a successor to its secretary general and continue the fight against Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.”

He also said, “What we are doing is the minimum… We know that the war can be long.”

Naim Kassem was born in 1953 in Beirut, southern Lebanon. His political activism began with the Shia Amal movement in Lebanon. He left the party in the wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which shaped the political thinking of many young Lebanese Shiite activists. Later, in 1982, he participated in meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah, which was founded with the support of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.