About 18 meters underground, in the suburb of Dahieh in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, the top leader of terrorist-designated Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and several high-ranking officers had gathered when they were targeted by Israeli airstrikes, attacks carried out with about 80 tons of bombs, several said persons with access to WSJ.
During the meeting, several people would express frustration that Iran was holding back the militia group from hitting Israel harder, according to information provided to the newspaper.
A person with access to information says that in recent days Israel has seriously considered the possibility of killing Nasrallah. But the timing of the attack is described as having been opportunistic, as Israeli intelligence learned of the meeting just hours before it took place.
However, the operational planning for the attack must have started several months ago, writes the WSJ. Military officials then reportedly identified how to penetrate an underground bunker with a series of timed explosions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the time of the attack in New York, where he was addressing the UN General Assembly. It was also from there that he allegedly gave the green light for the attack via telephone.
In the US, however, the attack message was met with frustration. Israel gave no advance warning of the attacks, but information was only given when the plane was in the air.
Waves of attacks in recent weeks
Friday’s attack in Dahieh was carried out in a densely populated area and several buildings above the bunker are said to have been razed to the ground. At least six people were killed and 91 injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
In recent times, Israel has carried out over 2,000 attacks against various locations in the country, writes the WSJ. And according to UN agency OCHA’s humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza, at least 700 people have died in the past week, thousands injured and nearly 120,000 displaced.
Since October 2023, more than 1,500 civilians have been killed and over 200,000 people have been forced to flee.
“They have a high tolerance for extreme amounts of civilian casualties, especially when it comes to high-value targets like Hezbollah leadership or Hamas leadership,” Wes Bryant, a former US Air Force special operations chief, told the WSJ.