"The countdown has begun"... Galant threatens Naim Qassem

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant threatened the new Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, today, Tuesday, stressing that his appointment is temporary and that the countdown has begun.

Galant wrote on his account on the "X" platform: "The countdown has begun." He attached a picture of Naim Qassem to this tweet.

He also indicated Israel's intention to dismiss the new Secretary-General of Hezbollah, and wrote: 'A temporary appointment, will not last long.'

On Tuesday, the Lebanese Hezbollah group appointed Naim Qassem as Secretary-General of the party, succeeding Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel last September.

Here is more information about Naim Qassem:

• He has served as deputy secretary-general since 1991.

• He was appointed deputy secretary-general under former Hezbollah Secretary-General Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack in 1992, and remained in that position after Nasrallah assumed leadership of the party.

• He began his political career in the Amal Movement in Lebanon, which was formed in 1974.

• He left the Amal Movement in 1979 after the Iranian revolution, which shaped the political thinking of many young Lebanese Shiite activists.

• He participated in the meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah.

• He has long been Hezbollah’s main spokesman and has given numerous interviews to foreign media outlets.

• When hostilities across the border with Israel intensified in the Gaza conflict, he said in June that Hezbollah’s decision was not to expand the war but to fight if war was imposed.

• He has been the general coordinator of the parliamentary election campaigns since Hezbollah first ran in elections in 1992.

• Born in 1953 in the Basta al-Tahta neighborhood of Beirut, his family is from Kfar Fira in southern Lebanon, a Shiite-majority area.