The ruling council of Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah announced on Sunday that Hashem Saffieddin, a cousin of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, has been chosen as his successor as secretary-general.
Nasrallah, 64, was killed on Saturday in a precision airstrike targeting his bunker on the southern outskirts of Beirut. He was a founding member of Hezbollah in 1982 and took command of the organization after his predecessor, Syed Abbas Moussawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack in 1992.
Nasrallah is credited Hezbollah's strengthening of its terrorist capabilities and active use of them throughout his reign was certainly not a happy outcome for either Lebanon or the Israeli public, but from Hezbollah's point of view it meant that his successor making it difficult. The removal of the seemingly untouchable Nasrallah likely also reduced the number of enthusiastic applicants for his position.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to Nasrallah's invaluable skill set. said “As long as Nasrallah is alive, we will quickly restore the capabilities we took from Hezbollah,” he said on Saturday.
Saffiedin has some important points. bullet points His resume began with the fact that he was one of the few senior Hezbollah leaders not liquidated by Israel in the past week.
His family ties and physical resemblance to Nasrullah are an asset, as is his tightness. connection It was given to Iran's Hezbollah paymaster for his son's marriage to the daughter of Tehran's late terror leader Qasem Soleimani. Saffieddin's younger brother Abdullah is also Hezbollah's “ambassador” to Iran.
Saffieddin studied with Nasrallah at Islamic religious schools in the Shiite holy cities of Qom and Najaf in Iran and Iraq, respectively, and has Islamic credentials comparable to Nasrallah's. He also currently heads Hezbollah's executive council and the Jihad Council, which Nasrallah established in the 1990s to coordinate attacks on Israel. he was specified Terrorists by the US government in May 2017.
Chief of Saffieddin potential rival Naim Qassem, Nasrallah's deputy, was appointed secretary-general, automatically taking over leadership duties on an interim basis until the ruling Hezbollah party's Shura Council can appoint a new secretary-general.
Mr. Qassem, 71, has solid credentials in both religious studies and political activism. He was one of the original religious scholars when Hezbollah was founded, having jumped from an old Lebanese Shiite activist group called the Amal movement. The Amal movement is still aroundremains belligerent and theoretically rivals Hezbollah in political power, but without Iranian money and power behind it.
Mr. Qasem has been Hezbollah's deputy secretary-general for even longer than Mr. Nasrallah held the top position. Hezbollah officials speaking to foreign media all seem to think Saffiedine has a good chance of taking the top job. This is because Mr. Saffieddin has excellent Islamic beliefs, and Nasrallah had trained him as a leader. Saffieddin would provide a greater sense of continuity than Qassem. This is important if Hezbollah wants to project the idea that Nasrallah's killing did not cause significant permanent damage to the organization.
“In our resistance… even if a leader dies a martyr, another one will raise the flag and move forward with renewed, sure, strong determination,” Saffieddin himself proudly said in July.
Hezbollah is reportedly holding off on confirming a new secretary-general until Nasrallah can receive a proper funeral, a difficult move given Israel's demonstrated ability to pick off Hezbollah bigwigs. Maybe.
“When you inherit something that has just been destroyed, you have to do something different to get things back on track. Hezbollah will rebuild, but the more Israel keeps up the pressure, the harder it will become. '' said Afshon Ostová, a professor of national security at the California Naval Postgraduate School. said of washington post Saturday.
