Who Is The Potential Successor To Nasrallah In Leading Hezbollah?

(MENAFN- Palestine News Network ) Beirut/ PNN

Hashem Safi al-Din is a military and Political leader in Hezbollah, Lebanon. He was born in 1964 in southern Lebanon, where he received his education in Shia seminaries in Iraq and Iran. He joined the party during its early formation and has held high-ranking positions.

Following the assassination of the party's secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, in an Israeli airstrike on Al Dahiyeh, south of Beirut on September 27, Safi al-Din's name has emerged as a potential successor to Nasrallah in leading the party and its institutions.

Birth and Early Life

Hashem Safi al-Din was born in 1964 in the town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in southern Lebanon to a well-known Shia family, and he is a cousin of Hassan Nasrallah. Notably, the relationship between Safi al-Din and Nasrallah, in addition to their familial ties, is marked by similarities in appearance, voice, and mannerisms, including a distinct lisp in their pronunciation of the letter "r."

Safi al-Din family is known for its involvement in politics and religion, having produced scholars in the Shia sect and prominent politicians, including parliamentary representative Mohammed Safi al-Din during the 1960s and 1970s.

Safi al-Din received his education in Shia seminaries in Najaf, Iraq, and Qom, Iran, during the 1980s, alongside Nasrallah. He married in 1983 to the daughter of Muhammad Ali al-Amin, a member of the Legislative Council of the Shia Islamic Council in Lebanon.

In 2020, his son Reza married Zainab, the daughter of the former commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by U.S. forces in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

His brother Abdullah is Hezbollah's representative in Iran and has been subjected to U.S. sanctions, accused of drug trafficking and money laundering on behalf of the party.

Political and Military Experience

In 1994, Hezbollah summoned Safi al-Din from Qom to assume political and military responsibilities, especially since he was one of three individuals mentored by the party's former leader, Imad Mughniyeh (who was assassinated by Israel in Damascus in February 2008). The others were Nasrallah and Nabil Farouk.

After returning from Qom, he became the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council. This role made Safi al-Din responsible for implementing internal policies and developing the party's administrative structure. He oversees the party's institutions, finances, and investments both domestically and abroad, particularly in the Arab world, Africa, and Latin America.

Safi al-Din effectively became the second-in-command after Nasrallah, actively engaging with the military wing, in addition to his responsibilities in the political executive wing.

In 2017, the United States designated him on its lists of individuals accused of "terrorism" and imposed economic sanctions in 2018, including the seizure of his assets and accounts, as well as a ban on financial dealings with him. He was also included in the "terrorism lists" of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE, alongside several other party leaders.

Some reports indicate that after Nasrallah learned of an Israeli plot to assassinate him in 2008, he recommended that Safi al-Din be his successor in the event of his assassination.

Positions and Responsibilities

Safi al-Din was appointed as the head of Hezbollah in Beirut in 1994. He took on the presidency of the Resistance Council, responsible for the party's military activities, in 1995. In 1998, he became a member of the Shura Council and advanced to head the Executive Council, becoming the party's second-in-command. He also assumed leadership of the Jihad Council, the highest body in the party's military organization. In November 2010, he was selected as the military commander for the southern region.

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