Ayatollah Khamenei names Hezbollah leader Sheikh Qassem as his Lebanon representative

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei appointed the secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement as his envoy in the Arab country.

News ID: 5944

Date: 05 February 2025 - 14:33

TABNAK, Feb 05: The Leader announced in a decree on Wednesday that Sheikh Naim Qassem will represent him in handling financial matters, receiving and distributing religious funds either in the form of zakat or atonement, and managing religious affairs.

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and an annual obligation on all Muslims to pay a tiny portion of their earnings and wealth for charitable purposes.

Previously, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah – who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on southern Beirut in September 27 last year – had held the position.

On October 29, Hezbollah's Shura Council, the group's central decision-making body, elected Sheikh Qassem as the new chief of the Lebanese resistance movement.

Sheikh Qassem is a veteran figure in Hezbollah, having served as deputy secretary general of the Lebanese resistance group since 1991.

He was appointed deputy secretary general under Hezbollah’s late secretary general, Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack in 1992, and remained in the role when Nasrallah became leader.

His political activism began in the Lebanese Amal Movement, founded in 1974. He left Amal in 1979, following Iran’s Islamic Revolution, which shaped the political thinking of many young Lebanese activists.

He took part in meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah in 1982.