Hezbollah’s Senior Council said the decision was made in accordance with its process for selecting leadership. Qassem is committed to prophet “Mohammed’s authentic Islam” and the core principles of Hezbollah, the group's media statement said as quoted by CNN.

Previously, he was the group's second in command.

Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and military-resistance organization Hezbollah, was killed in a strike launched on Beirut by the Israeli military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed late last month.