A senior Israeli Air Force officer has revealed new details about the operation that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, saying the longtime terrorist chief spent far less time underground than many believed.
In a rare interview with Maariv, Col. S., commander of the Air Force’s “Nahalat Binyamin” unit responsible for planning strike operations, said Israeli intelligence tracked Nasrallah for years and knew his apartments, emergency locations, and hiding places. Contrary to the common perception that he lived almost exclusively in bunkers, the officer said Nasrallah spent periods living in a penthouse apartment on the eighth floor of a residential building in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood and used a special elevator whenever he needed to move into hiding.
The officer revealed that the Air Force dropped 83 bombs in the strike that killed Nasrallah in September 2024. “By the way, we dropped the same number on his successor, Hashem Safieddine, two weeks later,” he said. Col. S. added that Israel had plans to eliminate Nasrallah in every location he frequented and that any bunker he entered could have been targeted. According to the officer, Nasrallah had access to better-protected locations on the day he was killed but chose to enter the bunker where he was ultimately eliminated.
Col. S. said the strike was designed not only to hit the bunker but also to prevent anyone inside from escaping. Before the operation, he consulted rescue experts and concluded that Hezbollah would need many hours to reach survivors trapped underground. Following the strike, Israeli forces monitored the scene and struck bulldozers that arrived in attempts to reach people buried beneath the rubble. A second bulldozer was also destroyed, and, according to the officer, “the third bulldozer never came.”
The interview also revealed new details about other senior Hezbollah figures targeted by Israel. Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, was killed at an apartment in Beirut that he regularly visited. Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations chief and commander of the Radwan Force, was eliminated in a strike that caused significant structural damage, prompting Israeli planners to reduce the size of munitions used in subsequent operations. Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s southern front commander, survived an initial strike after being wounded and was later evacuated to Nasrallah’s bunker, where he was ultimately killed alongside Nasrallah.
The officer also described the operation that killed Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Safieddine. He said Israeli planners again used 83 bombs and spent hours studying the bunker and tunnel network to ensure there was no escape route. According to Col. S., a breakthrough came when one of the officers flipped the bunker map upside down, revealing a clearer understanding of the underground layout and helping finalize the operation.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
