Hashem Safieddine

Hashem Safieddine (1964 – 3 October 2024) was a Lebanese Shia cleric who served as the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council from 2001 until his assassination in 2024. A maternal cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, Safieddine was considered the "number two" in Hezbollah for many years. In 2017, he was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States and designated as a terrorist by Saudi Arabia.

Following the 2024 Hezbollah headquarters strike on 27 September 2024, during the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, in which Nasrallah was killed, Safieddine was named as his likely successor. On 3 October 2024, Safieddine was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Dahieh, south of Beirut. His death was confirmed later that month.

Safieddine was born in 1964 in Deir Qanoun En Nahr, southern Lebanon, to a respected Lebanese Shia family. His name is also rendered as Safi al-Din. He was a maternal first cousin of Hassan Nasrallah. He was the brother of Abdallah Safieddine, a key Hezbollah operative based in Tehran.

Safieddine studied theology in Najaf, Iraq and Qom, Iran, together with Nasrallah, until he was recalled to Lebanon by Hassan Nasrallah in 1994, and was groomed by Nasrallah as a successor ever since.

In 1995, Safieddine was promoted to the Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Assembly), the highest council in Hezbollah, after which he operated under Imad Mughniyeh, until the latter's assassination in 2008. He was also appointed head of the Jihad Council. The Executive Council, of which he was president, oversees Hezbollah's political, social, and educational activities.

Until Nasrallah's assassination on 27 September 2024, Safieddine was among the three top leaders of Hezbollah, alongside Nasrallah and Naim Qassem.

In 2006, Safieddine was cited as a possible successor to Nasrallah for the post of Secretary-General of Hezbollah.

Safieddine was one of six clerics who were members of the Shura Council of Hezbollah. He was the head of the executive council of the group, also known as Shura Tanfiziyah, to which he was elected in the general assembly meeting in July 2001. He was one of nine members of the deciding consultative council (Shura al-Qarar), which is the top body of the group.