Next leader of Hezbollah? Israel says it killed two successors

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As Hezbollah reels from the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah last month, the group has yet to select a new successor.

Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has assassinated two potential future leaders of the terrorist organization based in Lebanon.

“We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday. He did not say who the latter two are, but Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hashem Safieddine, the man considered most likely to succeed Nasrallah, was believed dead after fighter jets bombed Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters last week.

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“Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” Gallant said, according to a video distributed by the military and described in multiple reports. “There’s no one to make decisions, no one to act.”

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Safieddine’s status was “being checked and when we know, we will inform the public,” Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has not yet confirmed the death of Safieddine.

On Tuesday, Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, vowed in a televised speech to continue strikes against Israel and said that the group is working to choose a new replacement leader.

Hussain Ehsani, an independent researcher who spent years in the Middle East monitoring Jihadi groups, said that Hezbollah could face internal divisions due to differing opinions on strategy and tactics against Israel, as well as disagreements over leadership and organizational management.

“The leadership contest may exacerbate existing rifts within the group, particularly as each of the three potential leaders represent different factions or approaches within the organization.”

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Here’s what we know about the three potential successors.

Hashem Safieddine

Hashem Safieddine has not been seen in public, nor has he released any audio or video messages, since last week’s strike.

He was considered the most likely successor to Nasrallah, who led the terror group for more than three decades.

Safieddine is a cousin of Nasrallah’s. Born in the 1960s in southern Lebanon, Safieddine joined Hezbollah during the country’s civil war in the 1980s.

He held several key positions within the group’s leadership, including being a member of the Shura Council, the highest decision-making body in the group’s leadership structure, and head of the Executive Council, which oversees the day-to-day activities of the terrorist group. Prior to that, he led the Jihadi Council, which is responsible for military and security operations, including the military wing’s funding, training and ammunition.

Like his cousin, Safieddine studied Shiite theology in Najaf, Iraq’s holy city for Shiites, as well as in Qom, Iran’s main centre for Islamic seminaries.

Safieddine has close ties with Iran, and this relationship is also personal. His son married the daughter of Qasem Soleimani, the notorious commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force. Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad in 2020.

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His brother, Abdullah Safieddine, serves as Hezbollah’s representative in Iran.

Hashem was designated a terrorist by both the United States and Saudi Arabia in 2017 due to his leadership role in Hezbollah.

The West, including Canada and the U.S., has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

“Safieddine, with his hardline stance and close ties to Iran, might attract those who favour a more aggressive approach against Israel and seek to maintain Hezbollah’s strong connection with Tehran,” said Ehsani.

Naim Qassem

Known as the second-in-command, Naim Qassem is the deputy secretary-general of the Hezbollah terrorist group. He and Safieddine have been running Hezbollah since the assassination of Hezbollah.

The 71-year-old is one of Hezbollah’s founders. In the 1980s, he left Amal, a Shiite group involved in Lebanon’s civil war.

Qassem was appointed deputy secretary-general in 1991, under former leader Abbas Mosavi, who was later assassinated by in Israeli helicopter strike.

He also oversaw Hezbollah’s educational network and, at one point, led the group’s parliamentary activities in Lebanese politics.

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According to Ehsani, Qassem is less popular among Hezbollah followers and militants but “remains a key figure within the organization (and) may garner support from more pragmatic or moderate elements.”

In 2005, he wrote a book about Hezbollah that was translated into several languages.

Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek

Mohammad Yazbek serves as the head of Hezbollah’s Judicial Council, which is responsible for issuing judgments and sentences in accordance with Sharia law among the Shiite community, and solving internal differences in the group’s ranks. He is considered another one of the group’s founders.

Born in the 1950s, he studied Shiite theology in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq.

According to Al-Alam, Iran’s state-run Arabic TV, Yazbek is the highest and most-respected religious figure within Hezbollah and the Shiite community in Lebanon.

He also serves as the representative of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, holding a position that is both political and religious. Previously, he represented the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini.

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Yazbek is from Baalbek, a valley in northern Lebanon.

Ehsani said that Yazbek’s name was initially suggested as a potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah before his death, but the focus has since shifted to Safieddine.

“This shift has introduced new dynamics into Hezbollah’s leadership transition,” he said, adding that Yazbek is a “senior cleric and respected figure within Hezbollah’s founding generation (and) could appeal to the more traditional and conservative members.”

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