Hezbollah names deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed slain leader

Hezbollah announced on Tuesday it has chosen Deputy Head Naim Qassem to succeed Hasan Nasrallah as leader after his death in an Israeli strike on Beirut last month. Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's executive council, was initially tipped to succeed Nasrallah.

But he too was killed in an Israeli strike.Qassem was one of Hezbollah's founders in 1982 and has been the party's deputy secretary general since 1991.He was the most senior Hezbollah official to continue making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding following the group's 2006 war with Israel.