On Wednesday, Naim Qassem made his third public appearance since becoming the secretary-general of Hizballah. A Lebanese writer using the pseudonym Nassim Badani provides a portrait of Qassem, whom he describes as lacking the charisma that contributed to the success of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah. While Badani’s assertion that the IDF has killed “thousands” of Lebanese civilians in the current war is dubious, as are his claims that Hizballah has “thwarted Isarel ground advances” and struck “key military installations,” his analysis of Qassem is worth reading:
The cream of the crop [of Hizballah’s leadership] is gone, mowed down by superior Israeli intelligence. The varsity team has left the field and the freshmen do not seem up to the task.
And it shows. In his first appearance after Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem looked like he was speaking to us from a closet. Seeming more schoolkid than orator, he looked like he was reciting homework rather than delivering a speech at a time of unprecedented hardship for his organization, days after their leader was killed. He counted out points with his hand and often referred to a cheat sheet in front of him. He looked like a novice actor failing to convey the emotions demanded by the contents of his script.
Qassem is thus ill-suited to restoring the trust of the Shiite public, which, according to Badani, Hizballah is rapidly losing:
The country’s brightest young brains are being extinguished on Lebanon’s southern front, their sacrifice offering no real strategic gain. . . . Hizballah’s people will be asking questions, if the war ever ends. They will want to know why they entered a conflict that got their beloved leader killed for no apparent purpose. Why did their loved ones die? Why were their homes destroyed? Who will rebuild them?
