Refer Report

After Hassan Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for over 30 years, was assassinated by Israel, speculation continues as to who will take his place.

Saudi Arabian news channels Al-Arabia and Al-Hadas reported on the 29th (local time), citing sources, that Hezbollah’s Shura Council appointed Nasrallah’s fourth cousin, Hashem Safieddin, as the successor secretary-general.

However, Hezbollah immediately denied the report through its official social media account, saying, “Nothing has been decided yet.”

Despite Hezbollah’s denial, many people who know the situation well predict that Safieddin, who has long been considered Nasrallah’s key close associate and de facto second-in-command, is highly likely to succeed him as the actual successor.

Safieddin is a member of Hezbollah’s executive committee and has overseen Hezbollah’s political division. Born in southern Lebanon in 1964, he, like Nasrallah, studied Shiite Islam while studying abroad in Iran and Iraq, and has been active in Hezbollah since the early 1980s.

He, who usually appears wearing a black turbine, expressed a strong sense of solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Gaza who are suffering from Israeli attacks at a recent event held near Beirut, saying, “Our history, our guns, and our rockets will be with you.” indicated.

He was not present when Nasrallah was killed along with other leadership members in an Israeli airstrike while at an underground command center outside Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on the 27th, so he was not harmed.

Senior Reporter Park Byeong-su suh@hani.co.kr

Source: Korean