Hezbollah has announced Naim Qassem as its new leader.
Qassem, whose promotion from deputy leader was announced on Tuesday, replaces Hassan Nasrallah as secretary-general of the Lebanon-based armed group.
Nasrallah was killed in Beirut in late September by an Israeli strike. Many other senior Hezbollah officials have also been targeted since Israel turned its focus on the group that month.
Hezbollah said Qassem was elected to take up the position due to his “adherence to the principles and goals of Hezbollah”, Al Jazeera reported.
It added that the group would “[ask] God Almighty to guide him in this noble mission in leading Hezbollah and its Islamic resistance”.
Read also: What is Hezbollah? Why are they important in Israel-Gaza war
The 71-year-old Qassem has often been referred to as Hezbollah’s “number two”. He is one of the religious scholars who founded the group in the early 1980s, has a long history in Shia political activism.
He was the most senior Hezbollah official to continue making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding following the group’s 2006 war with Israel.
Since the former leader was killed, Qassem has made three televised addresses, speaking in more formal Arabic than the colloquial Lebanese favoured by Nasrallah, Al Jazeera reported.
On September 30, he issued a defiant statement insisting that Hezbollah remains and will continue in their fight against Israel.
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