Israel used intelligence and technology to kill Hezbollah leader

The elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week in an attack in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, was one of the crowning achievements of Israeli intelligence in recent decades.

This is because Nasrallah, known for his strong security arrangements and rare public appearances, managed to hide from Tel Aviv for decades, transmitting his threats against the country always from a distance, without having his location exposed.

Now, his death in an operation targeting an underground bunker, used for secret meetings of Hezbollah leaders, shows how Israeli intelligence managed to develop a new strategy – with new weapons and infiltration of the terrorist group – to reach the main figure of the network of militias sponsored by Iran.

According to the newspaper Financial Timesthe successful attack against Nasrallah was the result of a long infiltration of espionage into the group’s most sensitive network, linked directly to the secretary general, which allowed it to be tracked.

The first steps of the infiltration took place in Syria, according to reports from former Israeli officials and Lebanese politicians. The sources said the Iranian-sponsored group sent some of its members to Syria to fight opponents of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

This participation in the Syrian conflict was classified by former officials as a “treasure trove of information” for Israel, as the terrorist group constantly published personal details of the lives of its fallen fighters.

This data allowed Israel to compile comprehensive profiles on Hezbollah’s top operatives, including senior leaders who attended the funerals of eliminated terrorists.

Since then, Israeli intelligence has been developing new technologies and contacts to reach the Hezbollah leader, who has already escaped several other attempts to eliminate him.

Tel Aviv then began hacking the terrorist group’s communications devices, using spies who were able to track the movements of Hezbollah members precisely. One of the ways to achieve this was by hacking into the cell phones of the militiamen’s wives.

The Israeli spy service was also able to track the movements of Hezbollah leaders through attacks on surveillance cameras in Lebanon and even by reading their car odometers, equipment that records the mileage traveled by a vehicle.

“Whenever the terrorist group’s routines deviated, an attack was imminent,” Israeli officials told the newspaper Financial Times. In one such investigation, Israel discovered that Nasrallah was on his way to his bunker in Beirut.

O Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had been planning the attack for months, while developing bombs equipped with timed explosions that would pierce the earth, allowing the next bomb to reach an even greater depth.

An analysis of the newspaper New York Times with munitions experts pointed out that 80 tons of 2,000-pound bombs designed to destroy fortified bunkers like the one in Nasrallah were used.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published a video on the day of the death announcement with the caption “Israeli Air Force fighters involved in the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah and the Hezbollah Central Headquarters in Lebanon”. The publication shows at least eight planes in a row armed with 2,000-pound bombs.

Hezbollah did not detail the conditions or location of its leader’s death, however Lebanese medical and security sources told the agency Reuters that the terrorist leader had no direct injuries and likely died from “head trauma from the blast after his body was recovered intact.”

Nasrallah’s hideout was nearly 20 meters below the surface and the explosions were so strong that they collapsed six buildings around the militia headquarters.