The Middle East Crisis Israel-Hezbollah

Hezbollah has appointed a new leader: Naim Qassem

Naim Qassem is appointed as the new leader of Hezbollah, writes Reuters. This since the former leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack in September.

The 71-year-old was involved in Hezbollah's founding in the 1980s. He has been deputy secretary general of the group since 1991. 

 

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The Middle East Crisis  Israel-Hezbollah
The Defense Minister's threat to Hezbollah's new leader

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant directs threats against Naim Qassem, who earlier in the day was appointed as the new leader of Hezbollah.

“Temporary appointment. Won't be long," he writes in a post on X where he has shared a picture of the new leader. In another similar post in Hebrew, he writes that "the countdown has begun".

Qassem takes over as Shia militia leader after Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut in late December. Recently, the Israeli military has killed several high-ranking leaders, both in Hamas and in Hezbollah.

 

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67 killed in Israeli attack on eastern Lebanon

During Tuesday morning, the rescue service in Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon is working to search for bodies in the racial masses after an Israeli attack on the area. 67 people have been killed, according to the region's governor Bachir Khodr, Reuters reports.

- It's only the people who were taken from the racial masses and we still don't have the final death toll, he says.

The attacks are said to have targeted twelve areas and were described by the region's governor as the worst since the war between Israel and Hezbollah broke out. In total, 2⁠ 700 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past year.