Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council and a cousin of the group’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, could be next in line to lead the organization after Nasrallah was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.
Safieddine, who has overseen Hezbollah’s civilian operations for decades, was said to have survived the attack on the group’s underground bunker in Beirut’s Dahieh district, according to reports.
Designated as Nasrallah’s successor since the 1990s, Safieddine was brought back to Beirut from his studies in Iran to head Hezbollah’s Executive Council just two years after Nasrallah assumed leadership. He is also related by marriage to Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Quds Force, who was killed by a U.S. strike in 2020.
Safieddine, on the U.S. terror list since 2017, has managed Hezbollah’s education system, finances and foreign investments, leaving military and strategic matters to Nasrallah. He has maintained close ties with Tehran and supports the Iranian regime, with his brother Abdullah serving as Hezbollah’s envoy to Iran.
Born in 1964 in a village near the southern city of Tyre, Safieddine hails from a prominent family of clerics. Throughout the current war, he has represented Nasrallah at public events, including the funerals of senior Hezbollah members killed in what was believed to be an Israeli attack.
"The wounded will return to their Jihad," Safieddine said at a recent event, adding, "If the enemy's goal is to halt support for Gaza, it must know that it will only grow."