Just like his cousin Hassan Nasrallah – killed in a massive Israeli air raid on Hezbollah’s headquarters in the outskirts of southern Beirut on September 27 – Hashem Safieddine wears a black turban, a prestigious Shiite symbol marking him out as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. Safieddine, described by his opponents as aggressive and “bloodthirsty”, is widely expected to take over as Hezbollah’s new leader. And he can count on his influential brother, Abdallah Safieddine, who heads the group’s operations in Iran, to back him up.
Speculation is rife over how Hezbollah will overcome the loss of its longtime ideological and strategic leader, Hassan Nasrallah. But if there is one thing that experts do not seem to doubt, it is the name of his successor: Hashem Safieddine.
Barring an unexpected turn of events within the “Party of God” itself – or another targeted strike by the Israelis handicapping the group even further – Safieddine, Nasrallah’s cousin (their mothers are sisters) is likely to be tapped to take over as Hezbollah’s new leader, despite the fact that Naim Qassem is the group's official number two.
On September 30, Qassem gave his first speech following Nasrallah’s death. In it, he indicated that the Iran-backed party would name a new secretary general at its earliest convenience, in accordance with the party’s rules. He was referring to the Shura Council, Hezbollah’s powerful decision-making body, which now must meet to elect a new leader for a three-year mandate.
“The choice will be easy,” Qassem added in a televised speech later on aimed at reassuring the group’s fighters and supporters amid Hezbollah’s recent heavy losses.
“There’s a lot of talk about Hashem Safieddine, who’s in charge of the party’s executive council, a sort of Hezbollah government, and who also sits on the Jihad Council, its military wing,” said Christophe Ayad, a reporter at Le Monde and author of “Géopolitique du Hezbollah” ("Geopolitics of Hezbollah"). “He would have the competence, the legitimacy and the ties with Iran to succeed Hassan Nasrallah.”
Michael Young, author and senior editor at the Carnegie Middle East Center, agreed. “Arab satellite stations reporting that Naim Qassem may be temporary SG (secretary general) of Hezbollah, until elections are held to pick a successor,” he wrote in a post on X. “The favorite appears to be Hashem Safieddine. Other prominent figures include Mohammed Yazbek, [Iranian Supreme Leader] Khamenei’s representative, though less likely.”
Nasrallah’s unofficial heir
Up until Nasrallah was killed by Israeli forces just a few days ago, the question of who would one day replace him was taboo within Hezbollah. But most analysts following the group had already long been in agreement that Safieddine was the leader’s unofficial heir.
Born in the Tyre region of southern Lebanon in 1964, Safieddine is a public Hezbollah figure who – unlike his predecessor, who had to live in hiding to avoid Israeli threats – frequently appears at the group’s gatherings in person. This has helped Safieddine create special ties with Hezbollah’s members and its support base.
His position has been further cemented by the fact that he also heads the group’s executive council. According to French-language Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour, this is the equivalent to him being “Hezbollah’s prime minister”. The newspaper said that in this role he has the power to influence all kinds of decisions related to the group’s social, political and financial activities.
Although he might not be as experienced as his predecessor, Safieddine shares a multitude of similarities with Nasrallah – right down to their physical appearance and their tone of voice. But critics, including Shiite cleric and former Hezbollah executive Mohammad Ali al-Husseini, labels Safieddine as both more aggressive and much less pragmatic than Nasrallah.
“If Hassan Nasrallah was a pleasant character who was easy to deal with by those around him, Hashem Safieddine has an assertive and stubborn personality, and I would even go as far as to say bloodthirsty,” al-Husseini told Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya. Al-Husseini broke with Nasrallah over his Iranian ties and has since been accused by Hezbollah supporters of being on “Mossad’s payroll”.
To illustrate this "bloodthirstiness", al-Husseini said that Safieddine had repeatedly pushed Nasrallah “to strike Tel Aviv” to avenge the death of Hamas deputy Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed in Beirut’s southern suburbs in January. Safieddine “will rush to bomb Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport and even Binyamin Netanyahu’s home in Israel”, he said.
In a 2020 interview, Safieddine said that the only way to handle arch-foe Israel was to do it the hard way. “When Israelis see that you are weak, they are merciless,” he said. “But when they see that you are strong, they are ready to make concessions.”
He has repeatedly also said that “Israel’s fate is to disappear”.
Close ties to the Iranian regime
Like his late cousin, Safieddine is a cleric enjoying the prestige that comes with wearing the black turban indicating he is a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. In the 1980s, he undertook religious studies in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran.
And just like Nasrallah, he is firmly aligned with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s doctrine of “wilayat al-faqih”, which stipulates that Iran’s supreme leader has a religious and political authority over all Muslims, not just Iranians.
This is why Khamenei will in all likelihood have the final say on who will be appointed Hezbollah’s new leader. The group was founded in the 1980s to fight the Israeli occupation of Lebanon with Iran’s financial, logistical and military support.
The ayatollah is thus likely to pick Safieddine, making him Israel’s new No. 1 target. The appointment of Safieddine would strengthen Iran’s hold over the weakened and infiltrated group that on Tuesday faced an Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon.
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Following his religious studies in Iran, Safieddine went on to deepen his ties with the Islamic Republic and its security apparatus even further – to the point that they have become family. His son Reda is married to Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of General Qassem Soleimani, the ayatollah’s right-hand man who was assassinated in Baghdad, Iraq, in January 2020.
In addition, Hashem Safieddine's brother, Abdallah Safieddine, is the head of Hezbollah’s operations in Iran. Both brothers are on the US black-list of terrorists for their ties to Iran.
The Iran-based Abdallah Safieddine has such status and influence that it was to him, “the head of Hezbollah’s diplomacy”, that Iran’s top dignitaries, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, on Sunday paid their respects after news reached them that Nasrallah had been killed. (See statement below)
Hezbollah’s top diplomat also speaks perfect Persian and always wears a dark suit, but is, unlike his brother, not a cleric. According to the US Treasury, the Iran-based brother is the engineer of various strategies to circumvent sanctions against Iran.
Washington describes him as a “cartel boss” and he was one of the main targets when the US Drug Enforcement Agency launched its “Project Cassandra” which, backed up by Israel’s Mossad, aimed to break up an international Hezbollah-led drug trafficking and money laundering ring.
“If you ask me, the Safieddines are already running Hezbollah: Abdallah from Tehran and Hashem from Beirut,” al-Husseini said in his al-Arabiya interview.
This article was adapted from the original in French.
