Following the appointment of a new Hezbollah leader, Israel’s Defense Minister issued a stern warning, stating that this leadership change, too, would be short-lived.

According to an international news agency, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant responded to the appointment of Naim Qassem as Hezbollah’s new head by saying, “the countdown has begun.” He further implied that the newly appointed leader will not remain in power for long.

Gallant made this statement on the social media platform “X” (formerly known as Twitter), where he shared an image of Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, along with the announcement of his leadership. Gallant’s post was in Hebrew, Israel’s national language, and received positive responses from Israeli users, many of whom applauded the threatening message toward Hezbollah’s new leader.

Notably, despite the explicit nature of the threat, the post was not removed, highlighting apparent bias on the part of the social media platform, which allowed the message to remain online in spite of this severe breach of ethical guidelines.

It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah’s previous leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, along with his associates. Following Nasrallah’s death, Hashem Safieddine was widely considered his successor. However, on September 27, Safieddine was also reportedly killed in another Israeli attack while in an underground bunker.

After the deaths of both Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, Hezbollah chose Naim Qassem as the new leader, officially announcing his appointment yesterday.

After the Israeli threats and the deaths of Nasrallah and Safieddine, Naim Qassem was reportedly flown to Tehran in a private plane sent by the Iranian foreign minister. It was only after his safe arrival in Tehran that the announcement of his leadership was made.