Terror Group Hezbollah Appoints Naim Qassem as New Leader to Replace Nasrallah

Terror Group Hezbollah Appoints Naim Qassem as New Leader to Replace Nasrallah

In a risky move, the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah on Thursday named Naim Qassem as its news leader.

Qassem, a 71-year-old Shia-Muslim cleric and long-time Hezbollah operative, will replace the Iran-sponsored terrorist group’s former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.

“Hezbollah has announced the group’s deputy secretary general will become its new head,” the BBC reported Thursday. “He is one of the few senior Hezbollah leaders who remains alive, after Israel killed most of the group’s leadership in a series of attacks.”

By elevating Qassem to the top job, the terrorist militia has put a large cross-hairs on his back. Last week, Hezbollah admitted the killing of Hashem Safieddine, who was widely regarded as Nasrallah’s likely heir apparent and the terrorist group’s next leader.

The Iran-backed terrorist group doubled down on its jihadist doctrine despite the devastating blows by the IDF to its commander structure and fighting force in recent months. “Hezbollah’s media office said in a statement on Tuesday … that Qassem is committed to prophet “Mohammed’s authentic Islam” and the core principles of the group,” CNN reported.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on X assured that Qassem’s was ‘temporary appointment’ and he won’t last ‘for long.’

Temporary appointment.
Not for long. pic.twitter.com/ONu0GveApi

— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 29, 2024

Days ahead of his appointment, Qassem appears to have fled to Iran, The Times of Israel reported October 20:

Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem has been residing in Tehran after fleeing Lebanon on an Iranian plane over two weeks ago, the UAE-based Erem News outlet reports, quoting an anonymous Iranian source.

Qassem reportedly left Beirut on October 5 on the aircraft used by Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for a state visit to Lebanon and Syria. His transfer was ordered by top leaders of the Islamic Republic for fear of assassination by Israel, the source says.

Fleeing to Iran offers him some measure of protection, but as the elimination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran shows, this won’t guarantee him a long tenure as Hezbollah terror chief. Both his successors died violent deaths.

BREAKING: Hezbollah announced that Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s deputy who was seen sweating profusely during his last speech before fleeing to Iran, would replace Nasrallah as the leader of the terrorist organization. pic.twitter.com/8dxYXgXDGJ

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 29, 2024

AP: Satellite imagery shows Israeli airstrike hit Iran’s main missile base

While Iran continues to downplay Saturday’s Israeli airstrike, the satellite imagery reviewed by the Associated Press shows damage to the regime’s top missile manufacturing and launch base. According to the newly released images, the Islamic Guards’ (IRGC) missile base in the central Iranian city of Shahroud was hit by the Israeli strike. Iran did not disclose damage to the Shahroud base.

These and other aerial images show that Israel had ‘destroyed’ Iran’s missile manufacturing capabilities, leaving its own military and the proxy terrorist groups in the lurch as they escalate aggression against Israel on Tehran’s behest, the news agency noted Thursday.

The AP News reported:

Israel’s attack on Iran likely damaged a base run by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that builds ballistic missiles and launches rockets as part of its own space program, satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday showed.

The damage at the base in Shahroud raises new questions about Israel’s attack early Saturday, particularly as it took place in an area previously unacknowledged by Tehran and involved the Guard, a powerful force within Iran’s theocracy that so far has remained silent about any possible damage it suffered from the assault. Iran only has identified Israeli attacks as taking place in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces — not in rural Semnan province where the base is located.

It also potentially further restrains the Guard’s ability to manufacture the solid-fuel ballistic missiles it needs to stockpile as a deterrent against Israel. Tehran long has relied on that arsenal as it cannot purchase the advanced Western weapons that Israel and Tehran’s Gulf Arab neighbors have armed themselves with over the years, particularly from the United States.

Satellite photos earlier analyzed by the AP of two military bases near Tehran also targeted by Israel show that sites there that Iran uses in its ballistic missile manufacturing have been destroyed, further squeezing its program.

🚨NEW HIGH-DEF SATTELITE PHOTOS FROM IRAN: AP has released new satellite imagery of the Israeli strikes on the IRGC Shahroud base showing the damage; pay attention to the central blue building. pic.twitter.com/mImIzQnCQf

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) October 29, 2024

Hezbollah commander captured alive in southern Lebanon

The IDF earlier this month captured a Hezbollah commander during an operation in southern Lebanon, the Israeli media reported Thursday. Hassan Aqil Jawad, commander of the Aita al-Shaab area, is apparently the senior-most Hezbollah operative to have been captured alive by the Israeli military during the current ground operation, news reports suggest.

The IDF announced that two weeks ago, Golani Brigade troops captured Hassan Aqil Jawad, the Hezbollah commander in Ayta ash Shab, southern Lebanon. Acting on prior intelligence, the soldiers located a tunnel shaft in a Hezbollah command center where Jawad and several operatives… pic.twitter.com/EgKgCUHyLD

— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) October 29, 2024

The Times of Israel reported:

The commander of Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab was captured by troops of the Golani Brigade some two weeks ago, the IDF announces.

According to the military, Golani troops, with prior intelligence, located a tunnel shaft in a Hezbollah command center in Ayta ash-Shab, where several operatives were holed up.

Among them was the commander of the Hezbollah forces in the village, Hassan Aqil Jawad.

The operatives surrendered to the troops, and they were detained and questioned by field interrogators of the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504.

IDF continues counter-terrorism ops in southern Lebanon, northern Gaza

The IDF continued dismantling Hezbollah terrorist buildup in southern Lebanon. “IDF soldiers are continuing to conduct limited, localized, targeted raids in southern Lebanon, eliminating Hezbollah terrorists and dismantling terror infrastructure and weapons stockpiles both above and below ground,” the Israeli military said in a statement Thursday.

“In one operation, the soldiers located and dismantled a structure where they found two tunnel shafts and a large number of weapons,” the IDF added. “In other joint aerial and ground operations, the forces struck terror infrastructure sites used by Hezbollah terrorists for long-term stays and for planning and executing attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.”

Israeli air “strikes on terror targets over the past day, dozens of terrorists were eliminated and approximately 110 Hezbollah terror targets were struck, including launchers that were aimed toward Israeli civilian communities, weapons storage facilities and terror infrastructure sites,” the IDF added.

The IDF says it demolished an underground Hezbollah command center and another bunker where explosives were stored, during recent operations in southern Lebanon.

Reservists of the Carmeli Brigade located the command center, which the IDF says was built some 8 meters underground.… pic.twitter.com/dxBPaTOSUp

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 29, 2024

The Israeli armed forces continued the ground operation against Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza stronghold of Jabaliya. “In the area of Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip, IDF ground troops, in cooperation with the IAF, eliminated approximately 40 terrorists in ground and aerial strikes, as well as dismantled terror infrastructure,” the military disclosed Thursday. “The troops conducted ground and aerial strikes in order to eliminate terrorists who were operating against the troops.”

⭕️DISMANTLED: 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐧 of explosives in underground terrorist infrastructure located in southern Lebanon.

Here is a closer look at an underground command center reaching a depth of approx. 8 meters below ground: pic.twitter.com/tPW8IaiSna

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 29, 2024

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