A hundred munitions, allegedly including American-made 2,000-pound bombs, were unleashed by the Israeli air force in a colossal air assault on Friday night. The target? Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, holed up in an underground bunker in Dahieh, a suburb in southern Beirut.
Nasrallah, notorious for his near-paranoid security measures, seldom ventured into public view. He barely gave a nod to his impending journey for this fateful meeting, but Israeli intelligence was so deep-rooted within Hezbollah that they knew exactly when and where he’d be. His security arrangements proved futile against the order for a strike.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then in New York after giving a fiery UN speech, reportedly had to green-light the operation. Time was of the essence. An eye-catching claim in the French newspaper Le Parisien suggested that an Iranian mole tipped off the Israelis. If true, it’s a wild twist, considering Iran is Hezbollah’s main ally.
The suggestion that Israel had long been monitoring this site is backed by reports of the operation’s planning. According to Lt Col M, the commander of the 69th Squadron of F-15I jets, they had been prepping for “several days,” only learning of their specific target hours before the mission. Armed to the teeth, those jets were ready to obliterate underground targets with massive firepower that could also flatten the edifices above.
Israel’s Defense Forces shared a video on Saturday, showing the jets taking off from Hatzerim airbase. The F-15Is, strapped with a myriad of missiles, were likely carrying BLU-109 bunker-busters, which had previously been restricted by the Biden administration due to fears of exacerbating the Gaza civilian toll.
Justin Bronk, a military aviation specialist with Rusi, commented that these jets likely deployed Joint Direct Attack Munitions with penetrating fuses, set to detonate beneath the ground or within structures. During Operation New Order, around 100 bombs were dropped, allegedly every two seconds.
The fallout was devastating. Four residential buildings were struck, three reduced to smoldering ruins. Initial estimates suggested up to 300 fatalities, although Lebanon’s figures later indicated 11 deaths and 108 injuries. Israel claimed over 20 Hezbollah members were eliminated, justifying the civilian toll by pointing out Nasrallah’s headquarters’ underground vicinity to residential zones in Dahiya.
Hatzerim base’s commander, Brig Gen Amichai Levine, detailed the precision of the operation’s planning. Securing quality intelligence was paramount. Ensuring the target had no chance to flee as jets approached was crucial — preventing early warnings was key.
The bewildering question remains: Why did Nasrallah risk a face-to-face? With Hezbollah’s tech like pagers and walkie-talkies often sabotaged by Israeli forces, it’s plausible that a direct meet-up was deemed necessary. Distrusting mobile phones’ traceability, Nasrallah may have felt compelled to huddle in person.
In the last fortnight, Israel’s coordinated campaign to dismantle Hezbollah’s military command has become glaringly obvious. This comprehensive strategy, from sabotaging communications to targeted airstrikes, has left countless Lebanese civilians displaced or dead. Despite the human toll, Israel appears unabashed, aiming to curb Hezbollah’s northern attacks and allow 65,000 Israelis to return to their border homes.
Israel’s success in the assassination of Nasrallah and other leaders underscores an intelligence feat starkly contrasting the missed anticipation of Hamas’s actions last October. Matthew Savill of Rusi highlighted that Israel’s likely years of cultivating deep intelligence networks within Hezbollah points to where their focus has been, inadvertently leaving Gaza under less scrutiny.
Edited by: Ali Musa
Axadle international–Monitoring
