Profiles

Hashem Safieddine: The drum-beating Lebanese cleric pegged as Nasrallah's successor

Known for his hardline and vehemently anti-US views, the man who could take over the top role of Hezbollah has been described as "Lebanon's Yahya Sinwar"

AFP

Head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Hashem Safieddine on August 13, 2017.

Hashem Safieddine: The drum-beating Lebanese cleric pegged as Nasrallah's successor

Shadi Alaa Aldin

last update on 03 Oct 2024

Lebanon’s army was swift to set up a security cordon around the US Embassy near Beirut after Israeli air strikes targeting the senior leadership of Hezbollah killed Hassan Nasrallah, its secretary-general. The identity and background of the cleric that many believe will take over the top job helps explain why such speedy action was taken: Hashem Safieddine is well known for his deep hatred of America.

He is a maternal cousin of Nasrallah and related to Qasem Soleimani, the slain former commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, by marriage. Soleimani was killed in an American attack, so for Safieddine, this is also personal.

Although Nasrallah’s successor is not yet confirmed, Safieddine is expected to get the nod and revive the ideological aspects for which Hezbollah was founded while maintaining its unwavering loyalty to Iran.

Embodiment of jihad

Safieddine’s character and approach make him ideally suited to act according to what Iran needs for the next phase of its proxy warfare strategy, balancing jihad with negotiation. Adept at the intricacies of both diplomacy and combat, Safieddine is best known for consistently championing self-defence through escalation and continuous open jihad, connecting all battlefronts no matter the cost. He sees war as the sole means of resolving conflicts, via either victory or death. Next to the practice of “strategic patience” and “tactical retreat”, his is a stark alternative.

REUTERS/Aziz Taher — Lebanon's Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem and senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine march in a procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, on July 17, 2024.

Iran's development and support for regional militias let it control its overall direction, but it delegates the oversight of military operations to the groups themselves.

Safieddine's hatred of the US will only have been reinforced by the unprecedented American support given to Israel for its military action in recent weeks. This includes the so-called "bunker-busting" bombs that penetrate even the most fortified locations, including those underground, such as Nasrallah's Beirut location when he was killed.

Table-thumping reputation

Born in 1964 in Deir Qanoun En-Nahr, a town in the Tyre district, Safieddine later became known for his fiery, uncompromising speeches and radical anti-American positions. This has helped solidify his prominent role in Hezbollah and Lebanon. He is often described as the group's second-in-command.

Yet his table-thumping reputation is at odds with the reality. Away from the pulpit, Safieddine's role is more akin to an operations manager, overseeing aspects like finances and investments, which generate substantial returns.

Safieddine is a maternal cousin of Nasrallah and related to Qasem Soleimani, the slain former commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, by marriage

By contrast, key strategic decisions have long been made by Nasrallah, whose charisma, oratory skills, and care for personal security kept him in the top job for 32 years after he took over from Abbas al-Musawi, another secretary-general who was assassinated.

Nasrallah showed he had the right qualities for the job, able to adapt and align his positions with Iranian interests, which prompted Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to make him secretary-general. For the next three decades, Nasrallah moulded Hezbollah in his own image.

In 1995, Nasrallah summoned Safieddine from Qom (where he had been studying Sharia) to Beirut to head the party's executive council. Ever since, he has been groomed as Nasrallah's successor. Yet this was a difficult time for Safieddine, living under Nasrallah's shadow. He struggled to gain authority and stature, as Iran worked tirelessly to build Nasrallah's image as someone iconic and exceptional, a sacred and strategic resistance leader.

A new type of leader

Safieddine links his religious beliefs to the concept of resistance, advocating for escalation as a strategic approach to waging war both within and from Lebanon. This is an option strongly endorsed by the Iranian leadership.

AFP — Hashem Safieddine speaks at the memorial service for military official Mohamed Nasser on July 4, 2024.

It also aligns with the group's internal politics in Lebanon, where Hezbollah brands opponents as either Zionists or pro-American. The driving figure behind that rhetoric was Safieddine, but Nasrallah's strategy was more subtle, consisting of weaving alliances, building influence, accumulating power, and striking deals.

In a recent meeting, Safieddine voiced his strong support for the Palestinian resistance, declaring: "Our history, rifles, and missiles are with you." Yet Hezbollah's official policy was not to escalate but to back a proportional response within the rules of engagement.

With Nasrallah dead, Safieddine's words and wishes, as recorded at that time, now seem far more significant. If he takes over, they may indicate the next phase. In Gaza and Lebanon, Iran would have more militant leaders: Yahya Sinwar of Hamas and Hashem Safieddine of Hezbollah. Both would fight to the last man.

Driven by fanaticism, "Lebanon's Sinwar" may not pursue specific, tangible outcomes or forge a path for political solutions, as Nasrallah did. That may suit the mood.

The consequences of this war, which has dramatically escalated with Israel's ground invasion, will cast a dark shadow over a region which—in Netanyahu, Sinwar, and Saffieddine—will have its fair share of bellicose belligerents.

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