JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - Lebanese Shia cleric and politician Naim Qassem has been named the new Hezbollah chief.
As the militant organization's new secretary-general, he replaces long-term leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was annihilated in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. Israeli attacks targeting Hezbollah and its retaliation has escalated into a fully blown out war across the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel's targeted attacks in recent weeks eliminated many of the Lebanese Shia Islamist paramilitary group's leaders.
One of the founding members of Hezbollah, Qassem has been serving as its deputy secretary-general since 1991.
71-year-old Qassem is reportedly living in Tehran, after leaving Beirut on October 5 aboard the aircraft used by Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi for a state visit to Lebanon and Syria.
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