ANALYSIS – Kudos to Mossad and the IDF! – The killing of several high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials, including its founder and longtime leader, in just over a week, constitutes the biggest blow to the organization since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel.
Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Sept. 27 and Hezbollah’s deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has said the group will choose his replacement at the earliest opportunity.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on targets in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a two-week long wave of attacks that has killed about 1,000 Lebanese and forced one million to flee their homes.
Now Hezbollah faces the challenge of replacing Nasrallah, a charismatic, towering leader who was a hero to supporters because he stood up to Israel even though he was a brutal terrorist mastermind.
The move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence successes that also put into question how deeply Israel’s foreign intelligence service, Mossad, had infiltrated the terror group.
Hezbollah had opened a second front against Israel to support its terror ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day after the Palestinian group’s surprise attack into southern Israel.
Still, the assassination of Nasrallah, the founder of Hezbollah on Friday, was only the most spectacular and high-profile killing in an unprecedented effort over many months. Overall, almost a dozen terror leaders have been eliminated by Israel, that we know of.
With the killing of Nabil Qaouk, another major figure within the Shia Muslim terror Islamist group, in an airstrike in Beirut, the job of eliminating the top echelons of Hezbollah’s military command structure appears almost complete.
“Hezbollah is facing a reality much worse than any worst-case scenario they might have war-gamed. The chain of command is obliterated,” said Naveed Ahmed, an independent Gulf-based security analyst and expert on Hezbollah.
Other Hezbollah leaders killed in recent days include Ibrahim Aqil, a second founder member of the organization’s military wing. Aqil had been the acting commander of the Radwan [special forces] brigades.
Ahmad Wehbe, a Radwan Forces commander was killed along with Aquil. He played a crucial role in developing the group since its formation almost two decades ago.
Ali Karaki, who had responsibility for military operations along the border with Israel, had a number of clandestine international roles in his long terrorist career.
He was reportedly being groomed for a senior leadership role within Hezbollah. He was killed in an underground bunker alongside Nasrallah in the massive Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike on Beirut on Friday.
Ibrahim Jazini, a friend of Nasrallah who was responsible for internal security within Hezbollah, was also killed by Israel.
In late July, Fuad Shukur, who was believed to have orchestrated the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut was also killed by Israel.
That attack left 241 American Marines dead in one day, the largest single loss in the Corps’ history. But it took the Israelis to get justice for those Marines.
Shukur’s death was overshadowed because he was killed hours before an explosion in Iran widely killed the leader of the Hamas military wing Ismail Haniyeh.
There have been a few others, including Ibrahim Qubaisi, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit.
Meanwhile, the decimation of the Hezbollah terror leadership leaves it in total disarray, stripped of capable operators who possessed deep military and international experience.
Israel’s surgical assassination campaign has so far targeted Hezbollah’s military commanders, leaving the top political echelons largely unscathed.
We will soon see if that continues, or if Israel will start taking out Hezbollah’s political leadership as well.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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This is astonishing information. Mainstream US media has not issued much info about Israel’s success in this effort. Thanks for keeping the info flowing.
Victory