This man will lead Hezbollah after death of Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut airstrike

However, Nasrallah’s death signifies the loss of not just a figurehead but also the individual who represented the Lebanese Shia movement for both its supporters and the broader region. In 1992, Nasrallah ascended to the role of secretary-general of Hezbollah while still in his 30s. Finding a successor of comparable stature will be a challenge for Hezbollah as it prepares for ongoing Israeli assaults and the potential for a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

Following Hassan Nasrallah’s death, these two leaders are possible contenders for Hezbollah’s next chief. Read here.

Hashem Safieddine

According to a report in Al Jazeera, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council and a cousin of Nasrallah, Safieddine is widely regarded as the frontrunner to become the movement’s next secretary-general. Safieddine, who hails from the southern village of Deir Qanoun en-Nahr near Tyre, was born in 1964 into a Shia family. He pursued his theological studies alongside Nasrallah at two key centers of Shia religious education: Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran. Both of them became involved with Hezbollah during the organization’s early development.

Safieddine has strong connections to Iran; his son, Redha, is married to the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the prominent Iranian general who was killed in a U.S. strike in 2020.

Naim Qassem

At 71 years old, he serves as Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general and is frequently referred to as the movement’s “number two.” In the 1970s, Qaseem joined the late Imam Musa al-Sadr’s Movement of the Dispossessed, which eventually merged into the Amal Movement, a Shia organization in Lebanon. In 1991, Qassem was elected deputy secretary-general in 1991, under then-Secretary-General Abbas al-Musawi.