Who is Hezbollah's new leader Sheikh Naim Qassem?

Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has named deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem as its new secretary general, succeeding longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli strike on Beirut last month.

Hezbollah's deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem, elected head of the Lebanese armed group on Tuesday, has been a senior figure in the Iran-backed movement for more than 30 years.

Speaking in front of curtains from an undisclosed location on Oct. 8, Qassem said the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was a war about who cries first, and Hezbollah would not cry first. The group's capabilities were intact despite "painful blows" from Israel.

But he added the group supported the efforts of parliament speaker Nabih Berri – a Hezbollah ally – to secure a ceasefire, for the first time omitting any mention of a Gaza truce deal as a pre-condition for halting the group's fire on Israel.

His 30-minute televised address came just days after senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine was thought to have been the target of an Israeli strike and 11 days after the killing of Hezbollah's secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

(Reuters)


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