Hezbollah announces Sheikh Naim Qassem as new Secretary-General succeeding Nasrallah

The Lebanese Hezbollah announced, on Tuesday afternoon, the electing Sheikh Naim Qassem as the new secretary-general, succeeding Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel on September 27 in an airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut.

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

The statement added, “We pledge to God Almighty and to the spirit of our highest and most precious martyr, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and to the martyrs, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance, and our steadfast, patient, and loyal people, to work together to achieve Hezbollah’s principles and the goals of its path, and to keep the flame of resistance shining and its banner raised until victory is achieved. God is victorious over His affair, for God is strong and mighty”.

Naim Muhammad Naim Qasim, was born in February 1953 in the Basta al Tahta area of ​​Beirut.

Married with six children, four boys and two girls.

His father, Muhammad, was born in the town of Kfar Fila in the Iqlim al Tuffah region of southern Lebanon.

Qassem held the position of Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, the political, military and social party, which has a large popular base and influence in Lebanon.

He studied until the higher stages of seminary studies, and this was in conjunction with academic studies at the Lebanese University in 1971, from which he obtained a BA in Chemistry in French from the University’s Faculty of Education.

Qassem obtained a master’s degree in chemistry from the Lebanese University in 1977.

He then worked as a teacher for official secondary school classes for six years, as he is a graduate of the Teachers’ College affiliated with the Ministry of Education.

He read many Islamic books, and practiced public speaking and preparing religious lessons at an early age.

Then he held lessons in the mosque for children in weekly sessions when he was no more than eighteen years old at the time.

He contributed to the establishment of the Lebanese Union of Muslim Students with a group of young people while he was in university classes, with the aim of student work and communicating Islamic ideas within universities and schools, in the early seventies.

He joined the “Lebanese Resistance Brigades” (Amal), the military wing of the “Movement of the Deprived” immediately after its establishment by Musa al Sadr in 1974.

Sheikh Naim Qassem was active in the first meetings held by al Sadr with Islamic figures and committees in Lebanon in preparation for the launch of the movement.

Qassem was appointed as the deputy central cultural official in the Amal Movement, then joined as a secretary in the movement’s leadership council, and when Hussein al Husseini assumed leadership, he held the position of head of doctrine and culture.

He later resigned from the Amal Movement, a year after the end of the Iranian Revolution, and decided to complete his studies at the seminary, and continued his religious activity by giving lessons in mosques and Husseiniyas in Beirut and the southern suburb.

Qasim contributed to the establishment of the Islamic Religious Education Association in 1977, and managed it until 1990.

He returned to political work, influenced by the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini, and participated in the Islamic committees that worked in the media activities of the revolution.

Following meetings between the Islamic committees in 1982, Hezbollah was founded, and Sheikh Naim Qassem was among the most prominent actors working to establish it.

He joined the Shura Council of Hezbollah and remained in it for 3 sessions, after which he was entrusted with the responsibility of educational and scouting activities in Beirut, then he assumed the position of Vice President of the Executive Council, before he becomes its head.

He was then appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah in 1991, and his duties included following up on the work of the party’s parliamentary representatives and their political movement.

He also assumed the presidency of the government work body responsible for following up on the various ministries and studying their structures and decisions, as well as following up on Hezbollah’s ministers and the Lebanese government’s work.

He also assumed the position of General Coordinator of the parliamentary elections in Hezbollah in 1992, with the beginning of the first parliamentary elections in it.

Qassem’s tenure witnessed several confrontations with Israel, including the July 1993 War, the April 1996 War, the 2000 Liberation War, the July 2006 War, and the 2017 confrontations.

It also witnesses the 2024 confrontations that began on October 7, 2023, following the declaration of Hamas’ operation al Aqsa Flood.