The airstrike that resulted in the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the culmination of a years-long operation by the Israeli intelligence agency
Mossad, which successfully infiltrated his entire network, enabling them to track him to his underground command center in Beirut.
On Friday, September 27, the Israeli military deployed 80 tons of specially designed bunker-busting bombs to penetrate the heavily fortified bunker, ultimately killing Nasrallah.
According to a report from the Financial Times, Nasrallah’s death was precisely what Israel aimed for in its attack.
Unbeknownst to Nasrallah, Israeli intelligence had closely monitored the movements of Hezbollah’s leadership after years of hacking and surveillance of the Lebanese terror group.
Following unsuccessful attempts to kill Nasrallah during the 2006 war, Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) developed strategies to penetrate Hezbollah’s ranks. Progress was made in 2012 when the militant group deployed its fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war.
Former Israeli intelligence officials and Lebanese politicians disclosed to the FT that the conflict in Syria yielded a wealth of information, as Hezbollah frequently published details about its slain fighters, revealing personal information.
This data allowed Israel to compile extensive profiles on Hezbollah operatives, including top leaders who attended the funerals of fallen fighters.
Israel subsequently began hacking into the terror group’s communication devices, enabling spies to track the movements of Hezbollah operatives, sometimes through their wives’ cell phones. Israeli agents also monitored Hezbollah leaders by hacking surveillance cameras in Lebanon and even tracking their cars’ odometers.
As a result, Israel discovered that deviations in the routines of the terror group often indicated an imminent attack.
Israeli officials noted a shift in Hezbollah’s discipline, with Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, stating that they had become less rigorous in their operations while supporting Assad.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the killing of Nasrallah as necessary and potentially a “historic turning point” in the Middle East. Following Nasrallah’s death, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was relocated to a secure location.
While in New York for a speech at the United Nations, Netanyahu authorized the bombing to eliminate Nasrallah. Israel had been planning the attack for months, developing bombs equipped with timed explosions designed to penetrate deep into the earth before the next bomb detonated, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Although Hezbollah did not confirm the circumstances of Nasrallah’s death, Lebanese medical and security sources informed Reuters that he had no direct wounds and likely died from the blunt trauma of the blast, as his body was recovered intact on Sunday.
