By Al-Fassel | 2024-10-01

With Hizbullah's leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in an Israeli air strike on south Beirut September 27, along with many of his henchmen, the leaderless Iran-backed party is in deep disarray.

While Hizbullah deputy chief Naim Qassem automatically takes over the party leadership after Nasrallah's death, its Shura Council must meet to elect a new leader.

In a televised address September 30, Qassem said a new leader would be selected "at the earliest opportunity" to replace Nasrallah, who headed the party for more than three decades.

But the list of potential candidates has been drastically shortened: slain in the same strike that killed Nasrallah was Ali Karake, the party's top commander in southern Lebanon.

Also killed were over 20 "other terrorists of varying ranks" who "were present at the underground headquarters in Beirut located beneath civilian buildings, and were managing Hizbullah's terrorist operations," the Israeli military said.

The dead include close Nasrallah associates Ibrahim Hussein Jazini and Samir Tawfiq Dib, it said, while Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hizbullah's central council, was "struck and eliminated" September 28.

Top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) commander Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan was killed alongside Nasrallah.

And Hamas on September 30 announced its leader in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, had been killed in a strike on al-Bass camp in south Lebanon.

Hizbullah's Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed September 20 in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburb that also targeted the force's other top leaders.

He was second in command in the party's military structure after Fuad Shukr, who was also killed in a July 30 Israeli strike.

Aqil had a $7 million US bounty on his head for his involvement in the bombing of the US embassy in Beirut in 1983, which killed 63 people, the attack on the US Marine barracks, which killed 241 US soldiers, and other terrorist attacks.

'Most likely successor'

As Hizbullah reels from the loss of Nasrallah, his cousin Hashem Safieddine has been floated as the "most likely" successor, analysts said.

Safieddine, who is blacklisted by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and whose son is married to the daughter of the late IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani, is one of Hizbullah's most prominent figures.

While Qassem on September 30 vowed to continue to fight, and the Houthis fired a salvo of rockets at Israel from Yemen, others underscored the need for a diplomatic solution.

US President Joe Biden called Nasrallah's death "a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese civilians."

Biden called for an end to the cycle of violence, urging "all sides" to step back from the brink and avoid an "all-out war."