Depth of Israeli penetration of Hezbollah revealed in killing of Nasrallah

“The killing of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah presents Hezbollah with a daunting task: addressing the infiltration within its ranks which allowed Israel to identify and hit key assets, communications and carry out the important liquidation of the son of Lebanon’s party for a very long time, whose location had been considered a close secret”.

Nasrallah was assassinated in a command headquarters on Friday, just a week after Israel’s devastating detonation of booby-trapped devices that targeted Hezbollah’s communication equipment. This marks a fast series of strikes that have killed half of Hezbollah’s leadership council and severely weakened its top military command.

Reuters spoke with several sources in Lebanon, Israel, Iran, and Syria on obtaining some feel of the damage Israel had incurred Hezbollah, including lost disruption to their lines of supply and command chain. At this point, one source claimed Israel had spent 20 years merely erecting its intelligence over Hezbollah and could attack when it pleased.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attending the UN General Assembly in New York, he authorized the attack, but sources indicate that Nasrallah had become extremely cautious about his movements after earlier attacks, making the successful strike point toward significant Israeli infiltration within Hezbollah.

Israeli forces, according to reports, had “in real-time” intelligence of the meeting where Nasrallah was killed. The alleged leaders were to plan attacks against Israel. A sophisticated and long-planned assault reportedly went straight into the command structure of Hezbollah.

He will likely carry out his operations, owing to Hezbollah’s military defeats, estimated at around 40,000 fighters and heavy armory, comprising an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles; its supply is further accompanied by Iran’s arsenal.

In the aftermath of the assassination, the party has had to replenish its diminished military capabilities. Prior to his death, sources in Tehran had already announced plans to send another tranche of missiles to Hezbollah. Still, Iran is not happy about directly intervening in the conflict.

According to reports, Israel has attacked over 1,000 Hezbollah positions. Indications are that the group’s missile capability has come down by as much as 20-25% amid such attacks. Now that Hezbollah has suffered such heavy losses, the killing of Nasrallah might have a strong impact within the organization and the region.