Hezbollah appoints new leader
Photo: Hashem Safieddine appointed as Hezbollah's new leader (wikipedia.org)
The paramilitary Islamist organization and political party Hezbollah has appointed a new leader following the recent death of Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Lebanon's capital. The group's new secretary-general is Hashem Safieddine, according to Al-Arabia.
Hashem Safieddine previously served as the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and was Nasrallah’s deputy.
Safieddine's selection as Hezbollah’s new leader on September 29 was confirmed during a council meeting of the organization. Sources from Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath confirmed the decision.
What is known about Hashem Safieddine
He is Nasrallah’s cousin and the son-in-law of former commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani. Arab media outlets noted that Safieddine had been considered the most likely successor to Nasrallah.
Hashem Safieddine was born in 1964 in Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, in southern Lebanon. Like Nasrallah, he studied in Najaf and Qom, and in 1982, he was one of Hezbollah’s co-founders.
In 1994, Safieddine was called back to Lebanon to become the president of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, replacing Nasrallah two years after the latter had been appointed the party’s secretary-general following the assassination of Abbas al-Musawi in an airstrike. Safieddine has been preparing to succeed Nasrallah since 1994.
According to Al-Arabiya, Safieddine has been handling sensitive matters for over three decades, while Nasrallah focused on strategy.
He also worked under the supervision of the party’s former military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed on February 12, 2008, in a car bomb explosion in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus.
“Although Safieddine remained a 'shadow man' for years, the security restrictions on Nasrallah pushed him to the forefront,” reports Al-Arabiya.
Elimination of Hezbollah’s leader
Previously, it was reported that on September 27, Israeli forces carried out strikes on Lebanon's capital. Later, it was revealed that the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in the shelling of Beirut. However, Iranian media initially denied this information.
The following day, September 28, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Nasrallah’s elimination. He had led Hezbollah for 32 years. Subsequently, Hezbollah confirmed the death of its leader.
For more information on what is known about Nasrallah, read RBC-Ukraine's article.
