HEZBOLLAH has named its new boss as Naim Qassem – an ageing terrorist who gave a chilling speech earlier this month vowing to fight on.
Qassem, the former deputy leader, is replacing Hassan Nasrallah – who was killed by Israel last month in massive airstrikes on Beirut.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has been elected as its new leader[/caption]
Qassem attends a memorial service for a senior commander killed on June 3[/caption]
Qassem speaking on October 15 with a photo of Nasrallah next to him[/caption]
The 71-year-old takes the reigns as Hezbollah is defending against an Israeli invasion in the south of Lebanon.
Unlike Nasrallah who ruled Hezbollah for three decades, Qassem’s leadership may be short lived.
His accession to the top of Hezbollah will make him the chief target for ruthlessly efficient Israeli assassins who have already killed dozens of terror chiefs in Lebanon and Gaza.
Qassem has been a senior figure in the Iran-backed movement for more than 30 years and was the acting boss following Nasrallah’s death.
He is currently living in Tehran, having fled Lebanon on an Iranian plane with the country’s foreign minister on October 5, UAE-based Erem News outlet reports.
His transfer was ordered by top leaders of the Islamic Republic for fear of assassination by Israel, the source says.
In a statement announcing the transition, Hezbollah said: “God Almighty has spoken the truth.
“…the Hezbollah Shura agreed to elect His Eminence Sheikh Naim Qassem as Secretary-General of Hezbollah, carrying the blessed banner in this march, asking God Almighty.”
Qassem addressed Hezbollah on October 8 following Nasrallah’s death when the group was scrambling.
In the televised address he said Hezbollah’s leadership is still in one piece and set on defending Lebanon for as long as it takes.
He said: “The party’s leadership and the resistance [Hezbollah] are meticulously organised.
“We have overcome painful blows.
“We are firing hundreds of rockets and dozens of drones. A large number of settlements and cities are under the fire of the resistance.
“Our capabilities are fine and our fighters are deployed along the front lines.”
Qassem’s accession to the top terror job will make him even more of an Israeli target[/caption]
Qassem may not be safe hiding in Tehran, with Israel striking Iran itself earlier this week.
Israel’s military operation against Iran – dubbed “Days of Repentance” – was a long-anticipated response to the missile strike at the start of this month.
The IDF were also able to assassinate Hamas’ terror leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was staying in Tehran in July.
Iran’s Supreme Leader cried as he stood beside the coffin of his ally and his slain bodyguard as a crowd chants “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.
The ruthless terror group was pounded by Israeli air strikes and lost dozens of its senior commanders following a pager and walkie-talkie attack which decimated its ranks.
Qassem’s accession also comes a week after Israel killed Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar.
The Hamas boss was the chief orchestrator of the tragic October 7 attacks that killed some 1.200 innocent civilians – while 250 people were taken hostage in Gaza.
Sinwar was taken out by a trainee squad of Israeli commandos after being left as the cowering final survivor of a gunfight.
Sinwar had his last humiliating moments sitting slumped over in an armchair in a bombed-out building in the Strip as he feebly tried to fight off an Israeli drone with a stick.
An autopsy revealed that Sinwar was likely wiped out by a long-range gunshot to the head – executed with sniper-like precision.
Inside Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah
By Oliver Harvey, Chief Feature Writer
MORTAL enemies Hezbollah and Israel are in open warfare, risking a deadly wider conflict in the troubled region.
After decades of bloodshed, the powerful and well-armed Islamist militia has tentacles stretching across the globe.
With Iran’s ayatollah as its puppet master, Hezbollah says it has 100,000 fanatical fighters at its call.
Analysts estimate it has as many as 500,000 rockets and missiles trained on Israel.
Military expert Professor Michael Clarke said: “Hezbollah are a formidable force. They’re very well equipped. They’ve got more tunnels than Hamas had.
“The tunnels in Lebanon are burrowed out of rock, and hard to destroy. They have around half a million projectiles that they can fire at Israel.
“If they chose to fire off great salvos of these things, a thousand or so at a time, three or four times a day, they are likely to overwhelm Israeli air defences.”
Hezbollah first made their name as a terrorist outfit in 1982 when Israel invaded its northern neighbour Lebanon to root out the Palestine Liberation Organization.
In the bloody fighting, Israel occupied the south of the country and Shia Muslim militias took up arms against the invaders.
Seeing an opportunity to extend its influence, Iran provided funding and training to the group which became known as Hezbollah — meaning Party Of God.
Hell-bent on destroying Israel, it was soon wreaking havoc.
In 1983, it launched a suicide bombing of barracks in the Lebanese capital Beirut, housing US and French troops, leaving more than 300 dead.
The same year, another Hezbollah terrorist drove a van packed with explosives into the compound of the US Embassy in Beirut, killing 63.
The terror group — which is also a political party providing education and health care — developed a taste for kidnapping, too.
Then in 2006, a separate full-blown war was triggered by a deadly cross-border raid by Hezbollah.
It was supposed to be a pushover for Israel’s well-trained regular armed forces against a guerilla army.
But as the Israeli tanks rolled into Lebanon they were quickly met with firm resistance.
Hezbollah had tunnelled deep into Lebanon’s craggy hillsides and built well- fortified positions amid its towns and villages.
Rather than the ragtag irregulars the Israelis expected, they faced highly trained and well-armed troops with night-vision goggles and sophisticated communications.
