Israeli officers involved in the operation to assassinate late Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah have disclosed new details about the years of intelligence surveillance and internal planning that preceded the attack, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
The disclosures, published on the second anniversary of Nasrallah’s assassination, came from two officers who played central roles in the operation: Major G., who headed the Lebanon theatre targets section within Israeli military intelligence at the time, and reserve Major R., an officer in the Israeli Air Force’s targeted assassination cell.
A Decade of Intelligence Surveillance
According to the officers, Israeli intelligence had monitored Nasrallah for around a decade, accumulating highly detailed information about his daily life, movements and habits.
Major G. said the intelligence team spent the two years immediately preceding the strike studying Nasrallah’s lifestyle and behaviour in depth, including when he slept, what he ate and who accompanied him during his movements.
He said the objective was to understand not only Nasrallah’s routine but also his decision-making and what was occupying his attention at any given time.
Reserve Major R. said Israeli forces knew Nasrallah’s location even before 7 October 2023. He said the compound where Nasrallah was eventually killed was struck with 83 tonnes of bombs, largely because of what he described as the complexity of its underground structure.
According to R., Nasrallah became more comfortable after 8 October because he believed Israel’s attention was concentrated on Gaza. He claimed Nasrallah continued operating relatively routinely while still taking precautions to conceal his movements.
Pager Attack Created Turning Point
The officers described the pager attacks against Hezbollah as a critical turning point.
R. claimed the attacks created widespread disruption within Hezbollah and forced the group to reassess its communications systems, personnel movements and broader operating procedures.
“From the pager stage, the organisation understood that it had control over nothing,” he said, according to the newspaper, adding that Hezbollah subsequently began reviewing much of the way it had previously operated.
Major G. said Israeli intelligence had expected Nasrallah to relocate following the pager attacks, but he remained at a location already known to Israel.
According to G., the Israeli intelligence team’s assessment was that Nasrallah had misread developments on the ground and did not expect Israel to escalate the confrontation to that extent.
He said Nasrallah may have interpreted the pager attacks and assassinations of senior Hezbollah figures as another stage in an exchange of strikes rather than as steps towards a wider war.
Israeli Intelligence Says It Tracked Him Continuously
G. claimed the intelligence team maintained continuous knowledge of Nasrallah’s whereabouts and had no periods in which his location was unknown.
When new intelligence emerged that could potentially have prompted Nasrallah to leave, the team passed the information to senior decision-makers and pressed for approval to carry out the strike before he relocated.
During the decisive hours, G. said the team continuously reviewed incoming intelligence to ensure that conditions had not changed.
He added that he was more concerned that political decision-makers would hesitate or postpone the operation than that the strike itself would fail.
Israeli Officer Claims 30 Civilians Were Killed
The Israeli officers also discussed civilian casualties caused by the attack.
G. said anticipated civilian harm was considered during the approval process and that Israeli intelligence attempted to estimate how many people were present in individual rooms, homes and buildings before the strike.
He claimed that the eventual number of civilians killed was lower than Israeli planners had initially expected, putting the figure at 30 people who were not involved in the fighting.
That figure represents the Israeli officer’s account of the casualties caused by the strike.
