Lebanon's Hezbollah says Naim Qassem will replace slain leader Hassan Nasrallah

The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah announced on Tuesday that Naim Qassem, the deputy of its leader who was killed a long time ago. Hassan Nasrallahhe will lead an organization backed by Iran. Qassem has been acting as party leader since Nasrallah's death.

“Hezbollah's (ruling) Shura Council has agreed to elect … Sheikh Naim Qassem as Hezbollah's secretary-general,” the terrorist group said in a statement on Tuesday.

There was initially speculation that the head of Hezbollah's executive council, Hashem Safieddine, would succeed Nasrallah, but he was killed in another Israeli strike in an area south of Beirut in October.

Qassem, 71, was among the founding members of Hezbollah in 1982 and has served as the group's second-in-command since the group entered politics in the early 1990s, according to the Counter Extremism Project, an international organization. He was born in 1953, and his family comes from the village of Kfar Fila, which is on the border with Israel.

Nasrallah, who only gave speeches via video for fear of being killed, has led the terrorist group for 30 years with fiery speeches. Qassem was the most senior Hezbollah official to remain in public after Nasrallah went into hiding following the group's 2006 war with Israel, and was seen as a leading figure in the media, the Counter Extremism Project said.

Since Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike on September 27, Qassem has made three televised addresses, speaking in official Arabic rather than Nasrallah's preferred Lebanese language.

Haley Ott contributed to this report.