Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (Pic credit: Reuters)
Israeli leaders were aware of Hassan Nasrallah‘s location for months and decided to attack him this past week because they believed they had a limited opportunity before he moved to a different location, according to three senior Israeli defence officials.
The officials, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter, said that over 80 bombs were dropped in a span of several minutes to kill him, although they did not specify the weight or type of the bombs.
The officials, citing intelligence from inside Lebanon, said that early Saturday, Hezbollah operatives discovered and identified the bodies of Nasrallah and Ali Karaki, a top Hezbollah military commander. Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death in the Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Two of the officials revealed that the operation had been planned since earlier in the week, as Israeli political leaders discussed the possibility of a cease-fire in Lebanon with their American counterparts, and before Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, departed Israel to deliver a speech at the United Nations.
All three officials mentioned that Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s cousin and a key figure in the movement’s political and social work, was one of the few remaining senior Hezbollah leaders not present at the strike site. They suggested that Safieddine, long considered a potential successor to Nasrallah, could be announced soon as Hezbollah’s new secretary-general.
