Hezbollah’s second-in-command and deputy secretary general Naim Qassem has fled from Lebanon to Iran amid Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, according to a report in UAE-based Erem News.
The report quoted an Iranian source as saying that Qassem left Beirut on October 5 in an aircraft used by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for a state visit to Lebanon and Syria. His transfer was ordered by top leaders of the Islamic Republic due to fear of assassination by Israel, the source was quoted as saying.
Qassem delivered three speeches since the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah by Israel on September 27, one from Beirut and the other two from Tehran, the report said. Notably, Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders since the beginning of the war with Hamas.
One of the founding members of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, has taken a more public role since Nasrallah’s death. Qassem’s political activism began with the Lebanese Shi’ite Amal Movement. He left the group in 1979 in the wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
He took part in meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah, established with the backing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, news agency Reuters reported.
He has been the general coordinator of Hezbollah’s parliamentary election campaigns since the militant group first contested them in 1992.