On Friday, Israeli fighter jets dropped over 80 bombs to penetrate Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in southern Beirut and eliminate its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, along with more than 20 operatives.
Six buildings were flattened in the massive strike on the subterranean complex, which the IDF noted was located near a United Nations-run school.
The strike culminated a three-decade-long effort to liquidate the leader of the Shiite terror group. Nasrallah had been at the helm of Hezbollah since 1992, but had become an elusive target after the 2006 Second Lebanon War, when he went into permanent hiding.
“Before 2006, Nasrallah traveled openly across Lebanon, delivering speeches and holding meetings,” said Eyal Zisser, an expert on Lebanon from Tel Aviv University’s Middle Eastern Studies Department.
During that war, Israel attempted to kill Nasrallah three times, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. One airstrike missed him, while two other attempts failed to breach the reinforced concrete bunker where he was hiding. READ MORE