A month after the September 27 assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, killed in a massive Israeli bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs, Hezbollah has appointed a new secretary general: Naim Kassem. In recent weeks, Kassem, 71, had been serving as an interim leader for the Iranian-aligned armed group. His election by the Shura Council, the party's decision-making body, was announced on Tuesday, October 29.

A familiar face among Hezbollah's leadership, who wore the tunic and white turban of the Shiite clergy, Kassem had held the position of Hezbollah's deputy secretary general for over 30 years. He was not, however, Nasrallah's designated successor, but the Israel-led campaign to eliminate Hezbollah's senior members has targeted several likely candidates, such as Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah's cousin, who had close ties to Tehran and was killed in early October.

Kassem had been tasked with giving a speech, before the party's base of supporters, gathered at the outskirts of the capital for the last public event organized by Hezbollah: the September 22 funeral of Ibrahim Akil, the head of the movement's elite Radwan Force, who was killed two days earlier, along with other military leaders, in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs. Seeming visibly affected, the leader nonetheless asserted that the party's resilience was intact. The day after the funeral, the Israeli army launched a massive offensive on Lebanon, which took the country by surprise, killing more than 1,750 people and displacing over 1 million.

By choosing a new leader during wartime, Hezbollah is seeking to display a form of continuity. This message is particularly aimed at its supporters, who have become disoriented (some have even refused to believe in Nasrallah's death) and worn down at a time when the country's Shiite-majority regions have been bearing the brunt of the conflict: Intense Israeli strikes continue to target the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.

Kassem's appointment is also a political signal, sent both to the domestic scene, where the party's opponents have bet on it becoming weakened, and to the regional one. "Hezbollah shows that it will do everything to continue to exist; it does not portray itself as being threatened with imminent extinction. Naim Kassem could be a transitional secretary general, before a new balance of power is established. Hezbollah is going to have to make some difficult concessions, whereas it used to see itself as an invincible party, and Naim Kassem could ensure this redefinition" comes to pass, said Ali Mourad, a professor and political activist, who ran for election in the country's south, on a list comprised of Hezbollah's opponents, in the 2022 legislative elections.

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