Hezbollah deputy leader leaves Lebanon for Iran

Citing an unnamed Iranian source, the United Arab Emirates' Erem News agency said that Mr. Qassem left the capital Beirut on October 5, on the same plane that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi used for state visits to Lebanon and Syria.

The source said Mr. Qassem was ordered to Tehran by Iran's top leadership because of fears of being assassinated by Israel.

Qassem is one of the leading candidates to succeed the late Nasrallah. Information about his whereabouts emerged amid Israel's stepped-up attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including the killing of a number of senior commanders of the movement.

Qassem has given three speeches since the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The first was recorded in Beirut, the second and third were delivered in Tehran, the source said.

Specifically, in a statement on al-manar TV on October 15, Mr. Qassem said that because Israel had attacked all of Lebanon, this armed movement had the right to attack any location in Israel from its defensive position.

According to Mr. Qassem, from September 17 (the time of the explosions of communication equipment in Lebanon) until now, Hezbollah is no longer in the phase of supporting Hamas but is in a new phase, which is the phase of “confrontation with Israel and Israel’s war against Lebanon”. In this new phase, Mr. Qassem declared that Hezbollah will focus on attacking the Israeli army and their centers and barracks.

Earlier, on October 8, Mr. Qassem affirmed that Hezbollah's senior leadership was still directing the fight against Israel and that the commanders killed by Israel had been replaced by new ones. He said at the time that all positions in Hezbollah had been filled, and the force would appoint a new leader to replace Nasrallah, who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on September 27.