BEIRUT: Lebanese armed group Hezbollah named Naim Qassem as its new chief on Tuesday (Oct 29) however Israel stated his tenure can be “momentary”, an obvious risk after it killed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut over a month in the past.
“Momentary appointment. Not for lengthy,” Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X with a photograph of Qassem.
Earlier, Iran-backed Hezbollah stated in a written assertion that its Shura Council had elected Qassem, 71, in accordance with its established mechanism for selecting a secretary common.
Qassem was appointed as Hezbollah’s deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group’s then secretary common Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter assault the next 12 months.
Qassem remained in his position when Nasrallah grew to become chief, and has lengthy been one in every of Hezbollah’s main spokesmen, conducting interviews with international media, together with whereas cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the past 12 months.
Nasrallah was killed on Sep 27 in an Israeli air assault on Beirut’s southern suburbs, often known as Dahiyeh, and senior Hezbollah determine Hashem Safieddine, thought-about the probably successor, was killed in Israeli strikes per week later.
