Nasrallah’s Death: Israel Takes Step Toward Victory

On Friday, September 27, the Israel Airforce (IAF) eliminated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a number of other Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders while they were meeting in an underground headquarters in the residential Dahia neighborhood of Beirut.

The strike was carried out by a small fleet of F-151 jets from the IAF 69^th Squadron out of southern Israel’s Hatzerim Airforce base acting on months of intelligence gathered by the IDF and Israeli Security (ISA). The aircraft flew undetected over southern Beirut and dropped 83 tons of explosives that penetrated the underground headquarters and leveled six buildings. Video footage shows billowing clouds of black and orange smoke covering the entire neighborhood.

“Everything we planned was executed precisely,” noted the commander of the 69^th Squadron (known only as Lt. Col. “Mem”), “with no errors, both in intelligence, the planning, with the planes, and the operation itself.”

The airstrike can be viewed as the culmination of Israel’s covert pager bomb episode from September 17. Having successfully dismantled Hezbollah’s wireless communication network, top Hezbollah and IRGC officers were forced to meet in person causing the perfect scenario to locate and eliminate top brass during a single meeting. In addition to Nasrallah, more than 20 other officers have been reported killed, including the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, Ali Karki, Hezbollah intelligence commander Hassan Khalil Yassin, and a number of IRGC officers including Quds Force commander in Lebanon, Abbas Nilforoushan.

Nasrallah’s death was confirmed by the IDF on Saturday in a statement that ended with a pledge to “operate against anyone who promotes and engages in terrorism against the State of Israel.” The targeted killing ended Nasrallah’s 32-year reign as Secretary General of Hezbollah. He had been hand-picked by Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in 1992. Under Nasrallah’s watch, Hezbollah effectively built a global network of terrorist proxies and expanded a world view of violent resistance and terrorism beyond the Israeli-Palestinian theater to include anti-US and anti-Western dictators as far as Latin America.

Reckless repercussions to Nasrallah’s death soon followed. Overnight on Friday and into Saturday, 22 large rocket barrages covered the skies in northern Israel. Ironically, many of the rockets intended for Jerusalem either fell short or were intercepted over Samaria (the northern part of the West Bank) resulting in severe damage to several Arab towns, such as Umm-al-Fahm and Hwara, known to be hot beds of Palestinian terrorist activity.

Surface-to-surface ballistic missiles from Hezbollah and the Houthi in Yemen also entered Israeli airspace targeting the highly populated central area of the country. The unpredictability of these high-altitude missiles put most of the country on high alert with many spending the Sabbath in bomb shelters.

In response to Nasrallah’s assassination, the Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree pledged: “We will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy in victory for the blood of our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon.” The Houthi missile launch was timed with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s arrival at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Saturday from New York.

The missiles were downed by Israel’s “Arrow” long-range missile defense interceptors. Debris from one fell in the Palestinian districts of eastern Jerusalem, and as far as the outskirts of Jericho, while another missile, intended for Eilat, was intercepted outside of Israeli territory with debris falling in Jordan.

The Houthi has fired over 220 ballistic missiles and drones in over 11 months with relatively little Israeli retaliation, save the IAF strike on Yemen’s Hodeidah port in July. On Sunday morning, September 29, however, the chatter on Israeli and Arab news outlets began confirming successful IAF strikes on the Hodeidah port facilities, power stations, and oil depots.

In early August, after the targeted killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Israel boasted of having more surprises and capabilities, leading many to presume this to be solely in context of an allusive nuclear arsenal. Over the past week, however — from pager bombs to precision strikes — Israel has shown that they keep their intelligence cards close, striking only at the opportune moment with conventional tactics that surprise the world.

Within a day following Nasrallah’s assassination, the IDF hacked into the communication networks at the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport control tower and broadcasted to an approaching Iranian cargo plane (Qasem Air, Flight QFZ9964) that it was not permitted to land. The aircraft subsequently turned around and returned to Iran.

The Lebanese Transport Minister confirmed in the newspaper An-Nahar that the IDF intercepted radio frequencies and warned: “If the state of Lebanon allows it [Iranian civilian planes to land], the IDF will act.” Iran has been transferring weapons and personnel via civilian aircraft to Beirut. Israel declared a “no fly zone” over Beirut this weekend and ordered Beirut airport air traffic control to issue a “Notice to Airmen.”

In continued airstrikes over the Dahia neighborhood, the IAF successfully penetrated a second underground facility on Saturday, September 28, destroying a massive arsenal of anti-ship missiles intended to threaten international maritime traffic and IDF naval vessels.

To date, Israeli news outlets are reporting that more than 50 percent of Hezbollah’s military has been dismantled and 90 percent of its top brass eliminated. Additionally, one million residents have been displaced in Lebanon — 600,000 fleeing south Lebanon, and 400,000 from Beirut. Cities across Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen are on high alert, expecting an expansive wave of IAF strikes, while three reserve battalions have been activated in Israel.

Mixed responses came from Israel’s allies in the international community following Nasrallah’s death. Many in the Biden administration and across Europe called the killing a mistake and touted the scripted policy line that a cease fire, rather than a decisive win, is the only measure for peace.

Jared Kushner however took to X and spoke for many who see Nasrallah’s death as a positive step forward in dismantling Iran’s stronghold in the Levant and maintaining Israel’s security. The son-in-law of former President Trump stated: “Anyone who has been calling for a ceasefire in the North is wrong … the right move now for America would be to tell Israel to finish the job. It’s long overdue. And it’s not only Israel’s fight.”

Israel has shown over recent weeks that appeasement will only work to the enemy’s advantage. The bold independence in recent days by acting without green light assurances from the White House is a reminder that Israel will act, alone if necessary, to protect its citizens and that a decisive display of force is the only way to defeat the enemy and ensure survival.

READ MORE from Bennett Tucker:

Unprecedented Operations and Attacks Intensify the Israel–Hezbollah Conflict

 

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