*This article is part of a series of articles dealing with the structure of Hezbollah in general with the various councils and the executive council on its various civilian entities in particular (see the introduction here)
The associates of the executive council number 10 members in addition to the head of the Council, Hashem Safi al-Din. Safi al-Din’s deputy is Ali Daamoush.
Daamoush was born in 1962, grew up in a traditional household, and moved at the age of 15 to Najaf, Iraq, to study religious studies, but was expelled by Saddam Hussein’s regime. He then studied religion in Lebanon and Qum, Iran, until he joined Hezbollah in 1994. He held several positions, such as a judge in Hezbollah’s Sharia courts. After joining Hezbollah’s Executive Council in 1998, he was put in charge of the Cultural Unit and then the Foreign Relations Unit (we will publish a separate document describing the unit). Daamoush delivers numerous speeches and participates in many performances related to the Executive Council’s functions. In recent years, Hashem al-Din’s deputy was appointed in place of Nabil Qaouk, who was dispossessed of his positions on the Executive Council (the reason for Qaouk’s oust is unknown). We are familiar with two websites operating under Daamoush’s patronage:
https://al-marefa.org/
https://alidaamouch.com/index.php
The Council includes a senior military representative and a senior representative from Hezbollah’s security unit, whose identities are unknown to us. Although the activities of the units subject to the Executive Council are mostly civic, these have a direct connection and implication on Hezbollah’s military and security activities. Without the Executive Council’s endeavors and those of the units subordinate to it, Hezbollah’s military activity would be severely damaged.
In addition to the military representative and the security representative, other members of the Council are the five heads of the geographical areas in which Hezbollah operates in Lebanon: Beirut, Beqaa, south Lebanon (the southern strip: “the first area”), south Lebanon (the northern strip: “the second area”) and the Lebanese mountains and the northern regions (the “fifth region”).
In addition, there are other members of the Executive Council:
Abdullah Kassir, former MP and CEO of Al-Manar and now an aide to Safi al-Din. Kassir is directly in charge of Hezbollah’s electronic unit (we will publish a separate document describing the unit).
Sultan Khalifa As’ad, a former aide to Hashem Safi al-Din (presumably replaced by Abdullah Kassir). One of the owners of the consulting firm “Arash” https://bit.ly/3EbcIEI. He and the company he owns have sanctions.
