Hezbollah picks longtime Nasrallah deputy as new leader

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has chosen Sheikh Naim Kassem to succeed longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month, the terror group said Tuesday.

The group said in a statement that Hezbollah’s decision-making Shura Council elected Kassem, 71, as its new secretary-general and vowed to continue “until victory is achieved.”

Since Nasrallah’s death as part of an Israeli offensive that took out many of Hezbollah’s senior officials, the white-turbaned cleric with a gray beard has often been the public face of Hezbollah. He is one of its founding members but is widely seen by supporters as lacking his predecessor’s oratory skills.

In a televised speech earlier this month, Kassem, who carries the clerical title of sheikh, claimed Hezbollah’s military capabilities were intact after Nasrallah’s assassination and warned Israelis they will only suffer further as fighting continues.

Kassem has been sanctioned by the United States, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist group. His appointment came as no surprise since he had served as Nasrallah’s deputy for 32 years and had also long been Hezbollah’s public face, giving interviews to local and foreign media outlets.

In an interview with The Associated Press in July, Kassem said he didn’t believe that Israel had the capacity — or had yet made the decision — to launch a full-blown war with Hezbollah. But he warned that even if Israel intended to undertake a limited operation in Lebanon that stopped short of a full-scale war, it should not expect the fighting to remain limited.

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