Lebanon: How Israel hunted down and killed Hezbollah leader

The elimination by Israel of the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a powerful bombardment on Friday in the suburbs of Beirut, is a remarkable espionage operation which crowns intelligence work of several years and highlights the deep infiltration of the movement, according to experts.

“Very sophisticated” boost

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli army spokesman, told reporters Friday that the intelligence gathering that led to the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah dates back several years. “We used intelligence that we had collected for years, we had real-time information and we carried out this strike,” he said.

“Israel’s capabilities with regard to Hezbollah demonstrate the depth of intelligence infiltration into Hezbollah spheres,” said Miri Eisen, a retired colonel and researcher at Israel’s International Counterterrorism Institute. Reichman University, in Herzliya (central Israel), stressing that the attack was the result of long-term work.

For James Dorsey, Middle East specialist, there is no doubt that this operation is a “very sophisticated” intelligence stunt. “It demonstrates not only significant technological capability, but also the depth with which Israel has penetrated Hezbollah,” he said.

The strike

According to Israeli officials, Hassan Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders met Friday at the movement’s “headquarters” in its main stronghold, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. An army video shows F-15 fighter-bombers taking off from Hatzerim air base (south) on Friday to carry out the operation. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., powerful explosions were heard throughout Beirut.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Israel spent months planning to use a “series of planned explosions” to reach the bunker beneath the apartment buildings where Hassan Nasrallah was located, with “each explosion triggering the next.” . The Hezbollah meeting coincided with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was present.

His office later released a photo showing him approving the strike, a decision said to have been taken “at his hotel in New York,” according to the Times of Israel daily. According to the New York Times, analysis of an army video indicates that the planes involved in the attack were “equipped with at least 15 bombs of 2,000 pounds” (about 900 kg) each.

Senior officials told the newspaper that “more than 80 bombs were dropped over a period of several minutes to kill” Hassan Nasrallah, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the bunker was hit with “80 tons of bombs.”

The consequences

The Lebanese Ministry of Health gave a provisional toll of six deaths and 91 injured. In the eyes of analyst Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group, the long-term effects of the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah on Hezbollah’s operations are difficult to predict.

For the moment, the main Israeli officials are pleased with this success while leaving the threat of a ground operation in Lebanon in order to push the Hezbollah militiamen and their arsenal of missiles as far as possible from the Israeli-Lebanese border.

On Saturday, the army released a transcript quoting the commander of the squadron that struck Nasrallah: “We will reach everyone, everywhere.”

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