Israel's deep intelligence operations led to Nasrallah's death: Report

Israel carried out a major airstrike on Friday evening, reportedly dropping around 100 bombs, resulting in the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who was in New York for a UN speech, reportedly gave the final authorization for the strike. The strike targeted a hidden underground bunker in Dahieh, a southern suburb of Beirut. The bombs used included US-made 2,000-pound bombs, dropped by the Israeli air force, as reported by French newspaper Le Parisien.

Deep intelligence led to strike
Nasrallah , known for being extremely cautious about his security, rarely appeared in public. However, Israel managed to gather enough intelligence to know that Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders were meeting in what they thought was a secret location. This enabled Israel to order the airstrike.

Importance of intelligence in military operations
Brig Gen Amichai Levine, commander of the Hatzerim airbase, explained that such operations require precise intelligence and that they needed to ensure the target did not escape before the bombs hit. This meant preventing any early warning of the approaching fighter jets.

Implications for Israeli intelligence
The success of this operation highlights the depth of Israel’s intelligence infiltration within Hezbollah, a stark contrast to their failure to foresee Hamas’s actions before October 7th last year. Military analyst Matthew Savill from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) suggested that Israel has likely spent years building up intelligence on Hezbollah, including human sources, to keep the information up to date.