On Tuesday morning, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah announced the election of Sheikh Naim Qassem as the group’s new head, following the assassination of former leader Hassan Nasrallah.

In a statement on the group’s Telegram channel, he announced:

“Based on faith in Almighty God, commitment to authentic Mohammedan Islam, adherence to the principles and objectives of Hezbollah and in accordance with the approved mechanism for electing the secretary general, the Shura Council of Hezbollah agreed to elect His Eminence Sheikh Naim Qassem. as Secretary General of Hezbollah, carrying the blessed banner on this journey, asking Almighty God to guide him in this noble mission of leading Hezbollah and its Islamic resistance.”

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The terrorist group pledged to “work together to achieve Hezbollah’s principles and the goals of its path, and keep the flame of resistance burning and its flag high until victory is achieved,” saying it would continue Nasrallah’s path. .

While Naim Qassem was a well-known figure in Lebanon, he rose to international prominence primarily after the assassination of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Naim Muhammad Naim Qassem, better known as Sheikh Naim Qassem, was born in the Basta al-Tahta area of ​​Beirut, Lebanon, in 1953 to a Shia Muslim family. Qassem grew up in Beirut and studied Islamic theology under Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah while pursuing a degree in chemistry at the Lebanese University and teaching in French.

Qassem was a founding member of the Lebanese Muslim Students Union in the 1970s.

He has been a leading figure in Hezbollah as one of its main ideologues and one of its founding members. He was part of a network of radical scholars (including Abbas al-Mousaoui, Subhi al-Tufaili, Mohammad Yazbek, Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed and Hassan Nasrallah) who founded Hezbollah in 1982.

Considered by many in Lebanon as the voice of Hezbollah, Qassem was elected deputy general secretary of the party on May 22, 1991. He served under general secretary Abbas al-Mousaoui until his assassination in 1992. Qassem continued in that position when Hassan Nasrallah He replaced al-Mousaoui as secretary general after his assassination in February 1992. Qassem is also a member of Hezbollah’s Shura Council and is in charge of overseeing its parliamentary and government activities.

Qassem takes on Hezbollah’s leadership role at a difficult time for the terrorist group. His predecessor, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an IAF “targeted strike” on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters, beneath a residential building in Dahiyeh, in late September. Nasrallah’s cousin Hashem Safieddine was initially seen as the likely successor. However, just a week later, Safieddine was killed in another Israeli airstrike.

Before the airstrike that killed Nasrallah, Hezbollah was rocked by a series of surprising Israeli operations that changed the status quo of nearly a year of Hezbollah rocket bombardments followed by some IDF retaliatory strikes against launchers.

While Israeli defense leaders had been claiming for months that the country would have to deal with Hezbollah in order to return evacuees to their homes in Israel’s northern border communities, the IDF’s focus appeared to be firmly fixed on the fighting. in Gaza.

After the pager operation, which killed dozens of Hezbollah operatives and injured and incapacitated thousands more, Israel altered that status quo in an unexpected way.

Over the next two weeks, in a series of precise attacks on Hezbollah leadership and positions, the IDF indicated that it was ready to confront Hezbollah directly and abandon the previous tit-for-tat approach.

After Nasrallah’s assassination, Qassem gave two televised speeches, both from undisclosed locations. In the first speech, on September 30, Qassem appears to be nervous and sweating profusely. In that speech, Qassem claimed that Hezbollah was still capable of fighting Israel, despite the “painful blows” it had received. He said Hezbollah would choose a successor to Nasrallah “as soon as possible” and said the group was ready for an IDF ground raid.

“We will face any possibility and we are prepared if the Israelis decide to enter by land,” Qassem said. “Resistance forces are ready for a ground confrontation.”

In the second speech, Qassem, who seemed a little more confident despite the recent assassination of Hashem Safieddine, claimed that Hezbollah had filled the leadership positions left vacant by Israel’s targeted killings. In that speech, Qassem stated that the terrorist group’s war with Israel was a question of “who cries first.” Qassem promised that Hezbollah would not cry first.

Arab and Israeli media reports claim that Naim Qassem fled to Iran on October 5, shortly before his second speech. He has not publicly addressed the group or the media since October 15.

The United Arab Emirates-based Aram News website said Qassem’s transfer to Tehran came on Iran’s orders, fearing Israel would also attack him.

Shortly after the announcement of Qassem’s appointment to the position, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, sent a message to hinting that the new leader would not last long.