Hezbollah elects Naim Qassem as new chief, succeeding Hassan Nasrallah

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has appointed Naim Qassem, deputy secretary general and second-in-command of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group as the successor to former chief Hassan Nasrallah. 

Nasrallah was killed in an air strike in Beirut launched by the Israeli forces on September 27, as per a report by news agency Reuters.    

The information of Hezbollah's Shura Council electing Qassem "in accordance with its established mechanism for choosing a secretary general" was released in a statement. 

Qassem, 71, has held the position of deputy secretary general since he was first appointed to the post in 1991. Since Nasrallah's killing, he has until now made three speeches, one was made from Beirut and two from Tehran. 

In one of the speeches, he said the militant group backed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

The development came days after a report of Qassem fleeing to Iran fearing assassination surfaced. His cousin, Hashem Safieddine was also killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut earlier this month.

In its report on October 21, the UAE-based Erem News website said that Qassem left Beirut on October 5 in an aircraft used by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for a state visit to Lebanon and Syria.

His transfer was ordered by top leaders of Iran due to fear of assassination by Israel, the report said, citing a source.