Hezbollah announced Tuesday it has chosen deputy head Sheikh Naim Qassem to succeed Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as leader after his death in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.

"Hezbollah's (governing) Shura Council agreed to elect... Sheikh Naim Qassem as secretary general of Hezbollah," the Iran-backed group said in a statement, more than a month after Nasrallah's killing.