Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday declared Sheikh Naim Qassem a “marked target for elimination” after Hezbollah fired rockets and drones at Israel overnight. Hezbollah’s secretary-general Naim Qassem is a long-time organisational insider who rose to the group’s top post after a series of Israeli assassinations. Qassem has emerged as one of the most consequential — and vulnerable — figures in the widening confrontation between Israel and Iran’s regional allies.
In a post on X, Katz warned that the Iran-backed group would “pay a heavy price” for the attack and accused Qassem of authorising the strike under pressure from Tehran. “Whoever follows in the path of Khamenei will soon find himself with him in the depths of hell along with all the thwarted elements of the axis of evil,” his post on X read.
The threat places Qassem squarely in Israel’s crosshairs at a moment when Hezbollah is already navigating one of the most turbulent periods in its history.
Who is Sheikh Naim Qassem?
Born in February 1953 in Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh governorate, Qassem began his political journey in the 1970s with the Movement of the Dispossessed, the Shia mobilisation effort that later evolved into the Amal Movement. He left Amal in 1982 to help establish Hezbollah, which was formed with the backing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon that year.
For more than three decades, Qassem served as Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general — from 1991 until October 2024 — making him one of the organisation’s longest-serving and most experienced administrators. Initially appointed under leader Abbas al-Musawi, he retained the role when Hassan Nasrallah took charge after Musawi was assassinated by Israel in 1992.
An insider with a public voice
Unlike Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and several senior clerics who wore black turbans denoting lineage from the Prophet Muhammad, Qassem appears in a white turban, signalling a different religious lineage. Over the years, he became one of Hezbollah’s most accessible representatives to international media.
His 2005 book, Hizbullah: The Story from Within, offered a rare insider’s account of the group’s ideology, structure and political evolution. It was translated into multiple languages, further shaping his reputation as the movement’s chief explainer.
Leadership by circumstance
Qassem assumed the top post on October 29, 2024, after Israel killed Nasrallah and later eliminated his presumed successor, Hashem Safieddine. Analysts widely describe his elevation as a default choice rather than a carefully groomed succession.
More reserved and less charismatic than Nasrallah, Qassem is seen as an organisational figure whose tenure may involve closer strategic oversight from Iran. Since taking charge, he has repeatedly vowed to “confront the aggression” of the United States and Israel.
Now, with Israel openly naming him as a target, Qassem’s leadership enters a perilous phase.