Who is likely to replace Nasrallah as Hezbollah leader?

BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, leaving a void in a movement that has suffered losses in its ranks due to months of Israeli assassinations.

Nasrallah became Hezbollah’s secretary general in 1992 at the age of 35, and then led the movement for most of its existence.

There are two leading figures being considered to succeed Nasrallah — Hashem Safieddine and Naim Qassem. Here’s what you need to know about them.

Hashem Safieddin

Hashem Safieddin, a potential successor to his slain cousin Nasrallah, is one of Hezbollah’s most prominent figures and has deep religious and family ties to the movement’s patron Iran.

Safieddine bears a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah, but is several years his junior, in his late 50s or early 60s.

A source close to Hezbollah, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the grey-bearded, bespectacled Safieddine was the “most likely” candidate for the party’s top job.

The United States and Saudi Arabia placed Safieddine, who is a member of Hezbollah’s powerful decision-making Shura Council, on their respective lists of designated “terrorists” in 2017.

The US Treasury Department described him as a “senior leader” of Hezbollah and a “key member” of its executive branch.

While Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem automatically assumes leadership of Hezbollah after Nasrallah’s death, the Shura Council must meet to elect a new secretary general.

Safieddine has strong ties to Iran after religious studies in Qom.

His son is married to the daughter of General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the foreign operations department of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who was killed in a 2020 US strike in Iraq.

Safieddine holds the title of Sayyed, his black turban marking him, like Nasrallah, as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Unlike Nasrallah, who lived in hiding for years, Safieddine has appeared openly at recent political and religious events.

Naim Kasem

Qasem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, is also in pole position, noted as the group’s “number two.”

The 71-year-old was among the founding members of the militant group in the early 1980s. He is regarded as one of Hezbollah’s seminal religious scholars, having taught religious students in Beirut for decades.

Qasem used to look after the educational matters of the militants and also supervised their parliamentary activities.

The Iranian-backed group’s co-founder and then-secretary-general Abbas al-Musawi elected him deputy secretary-general in 1991.