Israeli Defence Minister threatens Nasrallah replacement with same fate as his predecessors

— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 29, 2024

Hezbollah announced Qassem’s promotion from deputy leader to its new head on Tuesday, replacing Hassan Nasrallah as secretary-general of the Iranian proxy terror group.

Gallant previously praised Israel’s September operation to kill Nasrallah, who Gallant said was responsible for the murder of thousands of Israeli civilians and soldiers as well as foreign citizens.

The Defence Minister said in September: “To our enemies, I say: we are strong and determined. To our partners, I would say: our war, is your war. And to the people of Lebanon, I say: our war is not with you. It’s time for change.” 

The killing of Nasrallah left a power vacuum inside a group that had lost much of its leadership to months of targeted Israeli strikes and intelligence operations.

Last week,Hezbollah confirmed the death of the previous prospective successor to Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike earlier in October.

Following Safieddine’s death, Qassem, a 71-year-old Shia religious scholar, Hezbollah’s deputy leader since 1991 and its acting head, was left as the sole surviving member of the group’s public-facing senior leadership.

On the same morning as Qassem's appointment, Hezbollah launched some 50 rockets on the Galilee in northern Israel. While most were intercepted, some fell in civilian areas resulting in the death of at least one man.