More Than Just Nasrallah's Cousin: Hashem Safieddine's Deep Roots in Hezbollah

After the death of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, his cousin Hashem Safieddine, who was the group’s second-in-command, is now seen as a likely successor. At 60 years old, Safieddine is one of Hezbollah’s few top commanders still alive, as many others have been killed in Israeli attacks since the cross-border fighting began on October 8, 2023.

Safieddine, along with other leaders like Nasrallah, was targeted in Israeli airstrikes on Friday, September 27, in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Reports indicate that he survived the attacks. Due to his high rank within the party and his connections with Iran, Safieddine is now viewed as the most likely successor to Nasrallah.

Who is Safieddine?

Safieddine, born in 1964 in the town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in southern Lebanon, became part of Hezbollah soon after it was founded in 1982. Since returning from Qom, Iran, in 1994, Safieddine has led Hezbollah's Executive Council. The council oversees Hezbollah’s financial matters, administrative tasks, and educational programs.

He is also part of Hezbollah's Jihad Council, which manages the group’s military activities. Similar to Nasrallah, Safieddine is a cleric. He studied the Quran in Najaf, Iraq, and Qom, Iran, during the 1980s. Reports indicate that since Safieddine returned to Beirut in 1994, he has been prepared to eventually succeed Nasrallah as the leader of Hezbollah.

Lebanese media reports claim that Safieddine is considered more aggressive than Nasrallah and pushed for a stronger response against Israel following the October 7 attacks and the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut in January.

In a May 2020 interview with Al-Mayadeen, Safieddine stated that Israel "will no longer exist within 25 years," according to a report by AL-MONITOR. He confidently said that there is a growing global movement against Israel. He explained that this movement, using "weapons and sacrifice," will reach its goal.

Safieddine, like Nasrallah, wears a black turban to show he is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He has close connections with Iran, which is Hezbollah's main supporter. His brother, Abdallah Safieddine, serves as Hezbollah's representative in Iran. In 2020, his son Reza Safieddine married Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of Qasem Soleimani, the former Quds Force commander who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad earlier that year.

Safieddine comes from a prominent family known in both political and religious circles.His family includes Mohammad Safieddine, who was a member of parliament in the 1960s and 1970s. He is also a maternal cousin of Nasrallah.

In 1983, he married the daughter of Muhammad Ali al-Amin, who was a member of the Sharia Board of Lebanon’s Supreme Islamic Shiite Council. Safieddine is expected to follow in Nasrallah's footsteps, sharing the same anti-Israel and anti-US views. While speaking at the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter killed in June's cross-border clashes, Safieddine issued a warning to Israel, saying, "Let the enemy get ready to weep and mourn."

On October 8, 2023, just a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, Safieddine voiced his group's support for the Palestinian resistance. On the same day, October 8, Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in support of Hamas and the Gaza Strip.

In 2017, the U.S. State Department designated Safieddine as a global terrorist.The State Department identified Safieddine as a senior Hezbollah leader involved in “terrorist acts that pose a threat to the safety of U.S. citizens or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the U.S.” That same year, Saudi Arabia joined the U.S. in sanctioning Safieddine for supporting Hezbollah’s “terrorist activities” and its involvement in Syria backing President Bashar al-Assad.

(The author of this article is an Aerospace & Defence Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany)

 
(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA)