Hezbollah's Deputy Leader Naim Qassem said in a televised address on October 8 Iran-backed group's capabilities were intact and its fighters were pushing back Israeli ground incursions, despite the 'painful blows' inflicted by Israel in recent weeks.
Qassem has been the group's deputy secretary general for more than 30 years. He was elected and named its new leader this morning. But Israel promised to assassinate him, within hours of his election Israel has issued a chilling warning that it will assassinate Hezbollah's new leader, just hours after he was named as Hassan Nasrallah's successor.
Qassem's accession marks the first time Hezbollah has had a new leader since February 1992 when Shia cleric Nasrallah took power and oversaw the group in its transition from a militant force into a political party and regional powerhouse. Read MoreBREAKING NEWS Hezbollah names deputy Naim Qassem as its new leader to succeed Hassan Nasrallah Another Shia cleric, 71-year-old Qassem has been a fixture in the upper echelon of the political and militant group for more than 30 years.
He was born in Beirut in 1953 to a family from the village of Kfar Fila on the border with Israel and taught chemistry in Lebanon before turning to politics. Lebanon's Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem leads funeral prayers during the funeral of Hezbollah senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and Hezbollah member Mahmoud Hamad, who were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, September 22, 2024
And since Nasrallah's death in a huge Israeli air strike in the area on September 27, Qassem has made three televised addresses, speaking in more formal Arabic than the colloquial Lebanese favoured by his predecessor. Security-conscious Nasrallah had long avoided public appearances for fear of assassination, remaining largely hidden from view since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.
But no amount of security precautions would have prevented Israel's air force from wiping their adversary out in his own backyard after IDF chiefs received 'real-time intelligence that Nasrallah was gathering with many senior terrorists', Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said. A view of damage occurring in the surrounding buildings following Israeli warplanes targeted the Dahiyeh area in BeirutUltimately, it was Nasrallah that was credited with the recovery of southern Lebanon, after Israel withdrew in 2000 after years of exchanges.
Months of rocket fire and skirmishes along the border erupted into a wider conflict in September, with Israeli officials declaring the IDF would push Hezbollah back away from the Israeli-Lebanon border to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in the north. He studied theology and joined the Amal movement, a Shiite political and paramilitary organization, before becoming one of Hezbollah's founders.
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Read more »
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Read more »
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Read more »
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