Hezbollah’s Shura Council has reportedly elected Hashim Safieddine as the new Secretary General of the Lebanese militant group following the death of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday, Saudi-owned news outlet Al Arabiya reported on Sunday.
The 59-year-old Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah, has long been viewed as the likely successor after serving as head of Hezbollah’s executive council for decades. He is closely tied to Iran, having studied in the Iranian city of Qom and he is married to the daughter of slain Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
Safieddine resembles his predecessor in appearance and speaking style. Like Nasrallah, he has a distinctive lisp when pronouncing the Arabic letter ‘ra.’ Israeli media reports indicate Hezbollah had Safieddine prepared to take over leadership since at least 2008 in case Nasrallah was killed.
While lower-profile than Nasrallah, Safieddine is considered a hardliner strongly supporting Iran’s Islamic revolutionary ideology. In writings, he has praised Iran’s system of velayat-e-faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) as “one of the most important theories” derived by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
The US, Saudi Arabia and others have designated Safieddine as a terrorist operative and imposed sanctions on him due to his senior role overseeing Hezbollah’s military operations.
Nasrallah was killed in a strike on Friday that hit the group’s underground headquarters beneath a residential building in the Hezbollah-controlled southern Beirut suburb Dahieyh. According to the Israeli military, he was killed along with Ali Karaki, another top official, and other commanders.
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