Who is Hashem Safi al-Din, designated successor of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah?

In recent weeks, Israel did not just kill Hezbollah’s unchallenged leader of some 30 years, Hassan Nasrallah, but also eliminated large parts of its command structure.

However, now Hashem Safi al-Din (also spelled Safieddine), who has been widely considered Nasrallah’s likely successor for the last few decades, reportedly survived Israeli strikes and may be poised to take over the reins from his maternal cousin.

For casual observers, it will seem as if nothing has changed.

Safi al-Din looks deceptively similar to his cousin, from the same style of beard and the black turban, signaling ostensible descent from the prophet Muhammad, down to the speech defect that renders both men unable to pronounce a proper rolling ‘r.’

Hailing from a Shia family of clerics in southern Lebanon, in his youth Safi al-Din soon came under the influence of the infamous Imad Mughniyeh, one of Hezbollah’s founding members.

Together with his cousin Nasrallah, Safi al-Din then set off for religious education in the Shia holy places, first in Najaf in Iraq and then in Iran’s holy city and religious center of Qom, providing him a first direct point of contact with the Iranian regime, Hezbollah’s patron.

Two years after Nasrallah was appointed as successor of Abbas al-Musawi, who was also killed in an Israeli airstrike, he called his cousin back from Qom.

In the years that followed, Safi al-Din began taking over senior positions in the organization.

It is possible that Hashem Safi Al-Din, head of Hezbollah's Executive Council and apparently Nasrallah's successor, was not a casualty in last night's airstrike in Beirut. In June 2022, we published an article on him as part of a research project on the Executive Council. An… pic.twitter.com/l7hiGcIs57

— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) September 28, 2024

In 1998, he was elected head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, a key position that oversees the group's network of political and civilian organizations, which it has used to reinforce its stranglehold over the country in recent years.

Since around this time, he has been considered Nasrallah’s heir apparent, despite the title of deputy secretary-general belonging to Naim Qassem.

Over the years, Safi al-Din became a member of most of Hezbollah’s senior governing bodies, including its Jihad Council, which directs military operations.

Despite being a cleric, his various positions in the group allowed him to gather military and political experience and develop leadership skills that are admired within Hezbollah.

Since Hezbollah joined Hamas in the war against Israel last October, Safi al-Din has represented Nasrallah at the growing number of funerals of the group’s operatives, and has generally been among its most public faces.

He is also seen as an especially radical leader within the group and has taken a leading role in promoting its Iranian identity and loyalty to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Apart from spending years studying in Iran, he has deep family ties with the regime. His son Reza married the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Iranian Quds Force, who was killed by U.S. forces in 2020.

In addition, Safi al-Din’s brother Abdallah is Hezbollah’s envoy in Iran and a key figure in the group’s drug smuggling operations.

Safi al-Din has also defended and bragged about his Hezbollah's role in suppressing the Syrian revolt alongside the forces of its dictator Bashar al-Assad and has vowed to continue the “resistance” against Israel and the United States.

Safi al-Din’s close connections to Iran and his long-time status as the designated successor make it likely that he will soon take over the post of his cousin Nasrallah.

However, Lebanese media report that Hezbollah might hold off making an official announcement so the successor will not immediately share the same fate as Hassan Nasrallah.