Hashim Safi Al Din

Hashim Safi Al Din is a Lebanese Shia cleric, senior Hezbollah official and a maternal cousin of the secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

Education
Al Din studied theology in Najaf, Iraq, and in Qum, Iran, together with Nasrallah.

Career
Al Din is among three major leaders of Hezbollah, the other two are Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem. He is also regarded as second only to Nasrallah.

Al Din is one of six clerics who are members of the shura council of Hezbollah. He is also 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. In addition, he is one of nine members of the deciding consultative council (Shura al-Qarar), which is the top body of the group.

In October 2008, Al Din was elected to succeed Nasrallah as secretary general of Hezbollah in the general meeting. His appointment as heir apparent to Nasrallah was supported by Iranians. In 2009, Al Din was again elected to the shura council. He was appointed Hezbollah's military commander of the Southern Lebanon region in November 2010.