While rumors about Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s death may have been premature, the question of the terrorist leader’s successor remains relevant.

Lebanese media reported earlier this week that the condition of Nasrallah has deteriorated and that he was hospitalized. Pro-Hezbollah media, however, reported that he is functioning and meeting with his men.

And even though he has not named himself a successor, it is most likely that the man to replace him is no other than his cousin, Hashim Safi Al-Din.

In 2008, the first reports emerged that Al-Din, a pious Shiite and senior Hezbollah figure, received the blessing of the Iranians as the designated heir.

He is only four years younger than Nasrallah, having been born in 1964 in the village of Deir Qanoun En Nahr in south Lebanon.

Like his cousin, he received his religious education in the famous Shiite colleges in Najaf, Iraq and Qom, Iran.

Al-Din is a member of the Shura Council, which is the most prominent body within Hezbollah and also determines the identity of the organization’s leader.

But perhaps his most significant card is the marriage of his son, Sayyed Reza, to Zeinab Soleimani, daughter of former Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, who was slain by the U.S. military under the leadership of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

In any case, Hezbollah will remain a bitter enemy of the Jewish state, even after Nasrallah’s reign of terror.