The Israeli army announced this Saturday something that for decades it considered too daring and dangerous: the assassination of Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s top leader for 32 years. He did so 18 hours after launching several bombs weighing up to one ton and capable of penetrating bunkers against residential buildings in Dahiye, south of Beirut, under which – according to the Israeli army – Nasrallah was located. The Lebanese party-militia has not yet commented on the status of its main leader, who has become its face to the world and the voice of many Shiites in the country. He only clarified, on Friday night, that another of his main leaders and possible successor, Hashem Safieddine, is alive. The Middle East re-enters terra incognita,like many other times since October 2023.
“Nasrallah was responsible for the murder of numerous Israeli civilians and soldiers and for the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities. He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. “He was the main decision-maker and strategic leader of the organization,” the Israeli army said in a statement, which has called up three battalions of reservists for “operational activities and to reinforce the defense of the Central Command.” , responsible for the occupied territory of the West Bank.
The Armed Forces have announced the death of other militia commanders in the same bombing, including Ali Karaki, head of the southern front. He had already tried to kill him on Monday, in one of the six bombings he has launched since last week in Dahiye, the Shiite suburb and stronghold of Hezbollah. It is a densely populated area with narrow streets, so it is feared that the sum of the bombings to assassinate Nasrallah – which flattened six residential buildings of up to six floors and demolished other adjacent ones – and those in the early morning will leave a chilling toll of victims. with the passing of the hours.
The attacks – the latest this morning, whose explosions and fires could be seen from the capital and have generated thousands more displaced people – have caused dozens of deaths, including children and women; and beheading the organization, whose definition the international community diverges: the United States considers it terrorist, the European Union only qualifies the military branch as such (not the political party with a parliamentary presence) and several non-Western countries frame it in the “axis of the resistance” against Israel.
In recent weeks, several Israeli ministers, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, had defended or suggested the assassination of Nasrallah. It was an option on the table since the war in Gaza began, following the massive surprise attack by Hamas, but it was always ruled out due to its potential military and diplomatic consequences, according to what the national press reported at the time.
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This Friday, when the assassination attempt became known, the Embassy in Beirut of Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, criticized the “dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game” and that it will receive “timely punishment.” For the Lebanese Prime Minister, Nayib Mikati, (who was trying these days at the UN to push forward the 21-day ceasefire proposal promoted by Washington and Paris), it is proof that Netanyahu “does not care about all international efforts.” nor the calls for a ceasefire” that he had to hear at the United Nations. Some delegations walked out during his speech and others booed him.
In his speech in New York, Netanyahu assured that he will not stop until he defeats the Lebanese militia, which he included in an axis of the “curse”, led by Iran, opposed to that of “the blessing” (in which Israel is located). ), as he called them on the maps that he has shown from the stand. “A future of hope versus a future of despair […] As long as Hezbollah chooses war, Israel will not stop. “We are going to win this battle because we have no other option, we are fighting for our survival,” he stated.
Already in July, Israel killed its then number two,Fuad Shukr, and last week, the head of the elite Radwan forces, Ibrahim Aqil, within the framework of an all-out offensive against Hezbollah, which began with the remote detonation of thousands of beepers and walkie talkies which he had distributed among his own in the military, political and civil branches, and which left hundreds of militiamen blind and with barely any fingers.
In this context, the army launched a massive wave of bombings on Sunday that took a few hours to become the deadliest day for Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990. Its continuation has the objective of “preparing the ground for a possible” ground incursion into Lebanon, as the Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, warned on Wednesday, although the threat appears to be part of a strategy of using force thoroughly and to the top of the pyramid until Hezbollah agrees to withdraw to the north of the Litani River and stop launching rockets without Israel having to stop its attacks on Gaza. Hezbollah insists on connecting the two: it will put away its weapons when Israel does the same in the Strip.
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