ALBAWABA - Various news pieces emerged that the new Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem had left Beirut for Tehran days before announcing his official appointment as the movement's chief.
According to UAE-based Erem News, which cited an Iranian source, Qassem departed Beirut on October 5. According to the source, Qassem left aboard an airplane used by Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, on an official visit to Lebanon and Syria.
The source stated, "His transfer was ordered by top leaders of the Islamic Republic for fear of assassination by the Israeli government".
Earlier today, Hezbollah announced appointing Qassem as its new Secretary-General following the assassination of its former chief Hassan Nasrallah later in September.
In a statement, Hezbollah said Qassem was elected to take up the position due to his "adherence to the principles and goals of Hezbollah" adding that the group would "ask God Almighty to guide him in this noble mission in leading Hezbollah and its Islamic resistance" Al Jazeera reported.
Qassem is commonly referred to be Hezbollah's "number two". He is one of the religious academics who established the organization in the early 1980s and has a lengthy history of Shia political engagement.
Since Nasrallah's assassination, Qassem has given three broadcast remarks, speaking in more formal Arabic rather than the colloquial Lebanese he preferred.
