Political Beginnings
Sheikh Naim Qassem was born in Beirut in 1953 in a family from south Lebanon. His childhood clearly revealed his growing interest in the Shiite political scene, where he first became a member of the Amal movement, a Lebanese Shiite political organization which was formed at the beginning of the 1970s. However, Qassem’s intellectual development changed after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which incited a generation of Lebanese Shi’ite activists, a shift of center for him from Amal to Hezbollah.
A Founding Role in Hezbollah’s Formation
In 1982, upon the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Qassem took part in formative conferences that would later give birth to Hezbollah. Supporting this development was the revolutionary guard corps of Iran, as Hezbollah was created to counter the Israel’s threat in Lebanon and support the political religious cause which was based on the Iranian model. Qassem became dedicated to the mission of Hezbollah and soon rose to its top leadership, in 1991 under the leadership of Abbas al-Musawi, he was appointed as deputy secretary general. Beyound the 1992, assassination of al-Musawi through an aerial strike by Israel, Qassem maintained that position when Hassan Nasrallah replaced al-Musawi as the leader of Hezbollah.
A Key Player for Over Three Decades
Sheikh Naim Qassem has been a core figure in Hezbollah for over three decades, known for his role as a spokesperson, both domestically and in international media. His duties have included managing Hezbollah’s parliamentary election campaigns, a role he has held since the group entered Lebanese politics in 1992. His contributions extended to authoring a rare, detailed history of Hezbollah in 2005, providing an “insider’s look” into the organization.
Symbolic and Strategic Leadership
Unlike the previous heads, Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine who had put on back turbans suggesting that they were descendants of the prophet Mohammed, Qassem has a white turban on his head. This difference further elaborates on the different religious imagery within the internal hierarchy of the organization.
Hezbollah’s Transition after Nasrallah
After the Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had been killed during an Israeli raid on September 27, Qassem took charge of the group as its new leader and addressed the supporters for the first time in such capacity. On the 8th of October, one day after the Lebanese offices in Tel Aviv were targeted by the Israel government, he addressed the people from an unknown location and stated that he had no doubt this was possible regardless of the scarring blows that the Israeli attack had dealt on Hezbollah. The engagement with Israel was portrayed as one of endurance with Qassem again underscoring that Hezbollah would not be the one to back down first in any case.
It was the first time that Qassem endorsed parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri’s calls for a ceasefire although this included an important qualification that he had done without the previous condition of a Gaza ceasefire deal to halt Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel. His speech was indicative of an apparent tactical recalibration of Hezbollah’s policies in the face of an ongoing conflict in the region.
A New Phase in the Conflict Between Hezbollah and Israel
Qassem’s speech in October marked only her second public utterance since the fighting erupted between Hezbollah and Israel back in September which denotes an increasing public leadership presence. The new leader then restated that Hezbollah will also stand by the Palestinian factions and showed the readiness for protracted fighting with Israel. “This battle may be long,” he said, repeating the entrenched position of Hezbollah that this will be a war of attrition.
With a new leadership in place with Sheikh Naim Qassem at the helm of affairs at Hezbollah, his extensive experience and ideological positioning may be seen as the sign of status quo in the movement. Nevertheless, his admission of the ceasefire talks conveys that the former may not be the case, that there are strategies that may transform Hezbollah, especially during times when there are intricate alliances formed with various regions and conflicts are on the rise.
Genre: World News
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