who is Hachem Safieddine, the potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah at the head of Hezbollah?

Hachem Safieddine is the face of the Lebanese movement in many political and religious events.

Who to replace the leader of Hezbollah? Hachem Safieddine, an eminent figure in the Lebanese movement, appears as the potential successor to his cousin Hassan Nasrallah, killed Friday September 27 in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut (Lebanon).

Distant relative of Hassan Nasrallah, with whom the resemblance is striking, Hachem Safieddine, 64, is a few years his junior. He studied religion in Iran. His son is married to Zeinab, daughter of the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, killed in 2020 in an American strike in Iraq.

Hachem Safieddine is one of the most important members of the Shura Council. Like Hassan Nasrallah, he wears the black turban of the Sayyed, the descendants of the prophet Mohammed, to whom he claims his affiliation. “For several years, rumors have been circulating that Hachem Safieddine is the most likely candidate to succeed” to Hassan Nasrallah, Amal Saad, Hezbollah specialist and lecturer at Cardiff University, told AFP.

Because among the conditions to be met to take the reins of the movement, it is necessary “be a member of the Shura Council”which includes seven people, and “be a religious figure”explains Amal Saad, ensuring that Hachem Safieddine “has a lot of authority, which makes him the strongest candidate”.

Unlike Hassan Nasrallah, who has appeared very rarely in public since the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, his cousin is the face of the movement in numerous political and religious events. He was recently noted for his fiery speeches at the funerals of party commanders killed by Israel. “In our resistance, (…) when a commander becomes a martyr, another takes up the banner (…) with strength and determination”he declared during the funeral of Commander Mohammed Neemeh Nasser, killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

It is the Shura Council, the highest authority of the party, which must elect the successor of the charismatic Hassan Nasrallah, and for this, it “must meet to debate and decide”underlines Mohanad Hage Ali, researcher at Carnegie, with The Orient By Day. Gold, “It will be very difficult in such a context, with a sword of Damocles now hanging over the heads of party members.”