By Bassem Eid, JNS
Hezbollah’s ongoing provocations, coupled with its vast arsenal and preparations for invasion, left Israel with no choice.
For decades, the Middle East has cowered in the face of the thug Hassan Nasrallah. He was notorious as the shadowy veteran leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Iran to fight Israel during its intervention in the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s. The men under his command have carried out horrific, mass-casualty attacks not only against Israelis but against U.S. diplomatic and military personnel and civilian Jewish targets around the world. What does Israel’s confirmed assassination of this terror mastermind mean for our turbulent region?
As the leader of Hezbollah, Nasrallah commanded the world’s most heavily armed non-state actor. Hezbollah is far more than just a militant group; it’s a proxy army for Iran, armed and funded by Tehran with an annual subsidy of more than $1 billion. Nasrallah’s removal marks a significant shift in the balance of power in the Middle East. Hezbollah’s military force is so powerful that it is larger and better equipped than the Lebanese army itself.
For years, Hezbollah has attacked U.S. and global targets with impunity, focusing on civilian Jewish community targets. In 1983, the group carried out a bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American service members. That same year, Hezbollah bombed the U.S. embassy in Beirut, resulting in the deaths of 63 people, including 17 Americans. In 1994, Hezbollah orchestrated the bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, murdering 85 civilians and injuring more than 300 others.
The reality is that Israel’s targeted strike on Nasrallah is not an act of aggression but one of self-defense. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel, when more than 1,200 people were slaughtered and 240 more were kidnapped, Hezbollah—a close ally of Hamas—has engaged in continuous military escalation. More than 8,000 rockets have been launched at Israeli cities and military targets by Hezbollah, causing immense disruption to civilian life, particularly in Israel’s north. Hezbollah possesses an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, an unprecedented threat to Israel. The Radwan forces, an elite Hezbollah unit, have been specially trained for a ground invasion into northern Israel, mirroring the terror of the Oct. 7 attacks. Fires sparked by Hezbollah’s rocket barrage have destroyed more than 21,500 acres, including forest preserves.
Israel has taken strategic actions to neutralize Hezbollah's leadership in recent months. On Sept. 20, an airstrike in Beirut eliminated senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and 15 other top commanders who had been orchestrating plans for a large-scale Hezbollah invasion of northern Israel and who had ties to the 1983 U.S. embassy bombing in Beirut. On July 30, Israel took out Fuad Shukr, the mastermind behind the 1983 U.S. Marine barracks bombing. The U.S. State Department had long offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on Shukr, whose crimes spanned decades.
These were not isolated incidents but part of a broader campaign to dismantle Hezbollah’s terror network. On Sept. 17 and Sept. 18, a series of explosions further crippled Hezbollah’s communications network. Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies equipped with explosives detonated, killing 37 Hezbollah operatives and wounding thousands more. Although Israel did not claim responsibility for the explosions, Hezbollah vowed retaliation. These precision strikes, along with the elimination of high-profile commanders, demonstrate Israel’s ability to weaken Hezbollah without launching a full-scale war.
The strike occurred at Hezbollah’s headquarters in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut, built under residential buildings, and it is unclear yet at this writing if it impacted civilians. However, Hezbollah bears responsibility for every civilian casualty in Lebanon. By embedding its military infrastructure in civilian areas, the terror group intentionally uses the Lebanese people as human shields. The Israel Defense Forces have taken extraordinary measures to limit civilian harm, often warning noncombatants and providing time for evacuation before targeting assets. Israel’s actions are not aimed at Lebanon or its people but at dismantling the terror network that has taken their country hostage.
This strike was not to launch a war but a necessary step to prevent a larger, more devastating conflict. Hezbollah’s ongoing provocations, coupled with its vast arsenal and preparations for invasion, left Israel with no choice. Nasrallah’s removal will likely restore deterrence and weaken Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon. Without Nasrallah’s leadership, the terror group will face internal divisions, reducing its capacity to launch large-scale attacks. Moreover, it could open the door for Lebanon to reclaim its sovereignty, free from the influence of a group that has long exploited the country for Iran’s interests.
Israel’s strike against Nasrallah is about securing peace for its citizens and stability for the region. By removing one of the most dangerous terrorist leaders of our time, Israel has taken a critical step in protecting not just its own borders but the broader Middle East from the devastating consequences of Hezbollah’s continued reign of terror.
