Deputy Secretary General Naim Qasim
A Shiite cleric and Lebanese politician, Naim Qasim is the second man in Hezbollah and one of its most prominent theorists after its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah . He holds the position of Deputy Secretary-General and is responsible for following up on parliamentary and governmental work in the party. He was active in Islamic groups since the 1970s. He worked with Musa al-Sadr at the beginning of the establishment of the Movement of the Deprived, then contributed to the establishment of Hezbollah, and assumed the position of Deputy Secretary-General in 1991.
Naim Qassem, Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, gave a recorded speech on the occasion of the first anniversary of Operation " Al-Aqsa Flood " carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which he sent a series of messages to various parties, stressing that the party enjoys a strong position on the political and military levels. Qassem said he supported attempts to secure a truce, and for the first time did not mention the end of war in Gaza as a pre-condition to halting combat on the Lebanon-Israel border. Qassem said Hezbollah supports efforts by Lebanon Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to secure a ceasefire. It was the first time that the movement did not explicitly link a halt to hostilities in Lebanon with a ceasefire in Gaza, though it was not clear whether this signalled any change in stance.
Naeem Qasim is married and has 6 children, 4 of whom are boys. Naim bin Muhammad Naim Qasim was born in the Basta al-Tahta area in Beirut , Lebanon in 1953. His father is from the town of Kfar Fila in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region in southern Lebanon. He obtained a bachelor's and master's degree in chemistry, and joined the Faculty of Education at the Lebanese University in 1970, and studied chemistry in French. After graduating, he taught the same subject for 6 years in secondary schools. He then obtained a master's degree in chemistry from the same university in 1977.
During his university studies, Naim Qasim began giving weekly lessons to children in the mosque when he was only 18 years old. He studied the curricula of the seminary under the supervision of the most prominent Shiite scholars in Lebanon , most notably Sayyid Abbas al-Musawi , Sheikh Hassan Tarrad, and Sayyid Ali al-Amin. He received “external research” lessons in jurisprudence and principles at the hands of Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah . He continued his religious studies at the seminary with a number of scholars, including Sheikh Asaad Fneish, Sheikh Mohsen Atwi, and Sheikh Mustafa Kheshish. Then he studied at the hands of Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, studying the advanced level of jurisprudence and principles.
During his university studies, he contributed to the establishment of the “Lebanese Union of Muslim Students” with a number of students, and headed the Islamic Religious Education Association from 1974 to 1988. He joined the Lebanese Resistance Brigades (Amal), the military wing of the Movement of the Deprived, immediately after its founding by Musa al-Sadr in 1974. Naim Qassem was active in the first meetings held by Al-Sadr with Islamic figures and committees in Lebanon in preparation for launching the movement.
Naim Qassem was appointed as the deputy central cultural official in the Amal Movement, then he joined the movement’s leadership council as a secretary, and when Hussein al-Husseini assumed leadership, he held the position of official of doctrine and culture. Naim Qassem resigned from the Amal Movement, a year after the end of the Iranian Revolution , and decided to complete his studies at the seminary, and continued his religious activity by giving lessons in mosques and Husseiniyas in Beirut and the southern suburb .
Naeem Qassim taught weekly at Al-Birr and Al-Irshad Mosque for more than 10 years, then moved his lessons to Al-Imam Al-Mahdi Al-Ghubairi Mosque and stayed there for 4 years. He continued to move between mosques and Husayniyas for several years, and did not settle in one of them for more than 3 to 5 years. Naim Qasim contributed to the establishment of the Islamic Religious Education Association in 1977, and managed it until 1990. He returned to political work, influenced by the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini , and participated in the Islamic committees that worked in the media activities of the revolution.
Following meetings between the Islamic committees in 1982, Hezbollah was founded, and Naim Qassem was among the most prominent actors working to establish it. He joined the Shura Council of Hezbollah and remained in it for 3 sessions, after which he was entrusted with the responsibility of educational and scouting activities in Beirut, then he assumed the position of Vice President of the Executive Council, before heading it.
He was then appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah in 1991, and his duties included following up on the work of the party’s parliamentary representatives and their political movement. He also assumed the presidency of the government work body responsible for following up on the various ministries and studying their structures and decisions, as well as following up on the party’s ministers and the government’s work. He also assumed the position of General Coordinator of the parliamentary elections in Hezbollah in 1992, with the beginning of the first parliamentary elections in it.
Naim Qassem's tenure witnessed several confrontations with Israel , including the July 1993 War, the April 1996 War, the 2000 Liberation War, the July 2006 War, and the 2017 confrontations. The 2024 confrontations which began on October 7, 2023, after the Islamic Resistance in the Gaza Strip announced the launch of the “ Al-Aqsa Flood ” battle.
Naiem Qasim wrote several books, including:
- "Hezbollah", which presents the party's goals, history, and political vision.
- "Imam Khomeini between originality and renewal".
- "The Renewing Guardian" about the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei .
- "Resistance Society: The Will to Martyrdom and the Making of Victory."
On 22 September 2024 Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said that Israel wanted to achieve three goals by targeting the Radwan leadership: limiting it to paralyzing the resistance, inciting its incubator against it, and stopping the front supporting Gaza in order to return the residents of the north. Qassem added during the funeral of two leaders from Hezbollah's Radwan Force who were killed in the Israeli bombing that the resistance prevented Israel from achieving what it wanted from that targeting. Naim Qassem also stressed in his speech today in the southern suburb that the resistance will not determine how to respond to the Israeli aggression, and announced its entry into a new phase that he called the Battle of Open Accounts.
Lebanese media reported that "Nasrallah's deputy, Naim Qassem, was temporarily appointed in his place until the organization's Shura Council convenes to decide who will be the new leader who will replace Nasrallah permanently." The New York Times quoted Israeli officials as saying: “Hezbollah may soon announce Hashem Safieddine as Secretary-General, succeeding Nasrallah.” Following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, it is not entirely clear who is next in line to succeed him as the party's leader, especially since Israel has killed several levels of the group's hierarchy. CNN's chief international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, says there are two possibilities: Nasrallah's deputy Naim Qassem or senior party official Hashem Safieddine. He added: "But at this point, given the blows that Hezbollah has taken since July 30, when Fouad Shukr was killed in a southern suburb of Beirut in an Israeli drone strike, what we do know is that the organization is clearly suffering right now. And their priority right now is probably survival, staying alive to continue fighting another day."
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