Iran's Spiritual leader Ali Khamenei has stripped Hezbollah 's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah of his military authorities and appointed his deputy, sheikh Naim Qassem, commander of the party's military branch, the daily newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported Thursday.The pan-Arab daily said the decision was taken in light of a report presented by a team from the Intelligence apparatus of the Revolutionary Guards that had visited Lebanon to assess the status of Hezbollah 's military and its capabilities. It quoted a revolutionary Guards officer in the Bekaa Valley as saying "intense differences" between Qassem and Nasrallah on "destiny issues related to the party's military wing Â… led to the interference by Khamenei's office to re-organize Hezbollah's command structure."
The unnamed source said Hezbollah 's annual budget of 400 million dollars was raised to over one billion dollars in the past 18 months to compensate for the losses sustained during the 34-day war with Israel in the summer of 2006.
Khamenei assigned a team comprising major officers of the Revolutionary Guards in addition to Hezbollah 's ex-Intelligence Chief Imad Mughnieh to restructure the party's military branch in light of the team's recommendations, the report said. Qassem, in light of the report, assumed the higher responsibility for Hezbollah 's military branch, while Nasrallah maintained his post of secretary general in charge of the party's intelligence agency. Mughnieh, the report added, remains in charge of coordination between Hezbollah, Palestinian factions and Iranian intelligence agencies.