Meet Sheikh Naim Qassem: The New Face of Hezbollah
Hezbollah’s newly elected deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, has played a prominent role in the Iran-backed group for over three decades.
In a statement made from an undisclosed location on October 8, Qassem characterized the conflict with Israel as a battle of endurance, asserting that Hezbollah would not be the first to show weakness. He emphasized that the group’s strength remains undiminished, despite having endured significant losses from Israeli attacks.
Qassem also expressed support for parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri’s attempts to broker a ceasefire, notably omitting any prior conditions related to a truce in Gaza that had previously been mentioned in discussions about halting hostilities against Israel.
His address, which lasted 30 minutes, came shortly after an Israeli strike was believed to have targeted senior Hezbollah member Hashem Safieddine and 11 days following the death of Hezbollah’s former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah confirmed Safieddine’s death on October 23.
Qassem was appointed deputy chief in 1991 by Abbas al-Musawi, the group’s secretary general at the time, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike the following year.
He continued in his role when Nasrallah assumed leadership, becoming one of Hezbollah’s primary spokespersons and frequently engaging with international media during a year marked by escalating cross-border conflicts with Israel.
The televised remarks made by Qassem on October 8 were his second since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in September.
He was the first senior Hezbollah leader to speak publicly following Nasrallah’s death in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27.
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In a statement made on September 30, Qassem assured that Hezbollah would select a successor to its deceased secretary general “as soon as possible” and would persist in its fight against Israel in support of the Palestinian cause.
He remarked, “What we are doing is the bare minimum… We know that the battle may be long,” during a speech that lasted 19 minutes.
Born in 1953 in Beirut to a family from southern Lebanon, Qassem’s political involvement began with the Shiite Amal Movement.
He departed from the group in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which profoundly influenced the political views of many young Shiite activists in Lebanon.
Qassem participated in the discussions that led to the establishment of Hezbollah, which was formed with the assistance of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Since Hezbollah first participated in parliamentary elections in 1992, he has served as the general coordinator for the group’s election campaigns.
In 2005, he authored a history of Hezbollah, offering a rare insider’s perspective on the organization. Unlike Nasrallah and Safieddine, who wear black turbans indicating their descent from the Prophet Muhammad, Qassem wears a white turban.
Meet Sheikh Naim Qassem: The New Face of Hezbollah
