Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaking on August 25, 2024 (Al-Manar TV\Screenshot)
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah revealed on August 25 that a key intelligence base in central Israel was targeted in the group’s latest large-scale attack, noting that Israel’s preemptive attack on Lebanon had no impact.
The first stage of the attack, which was carried out in response to the killing of Hezbollah top commander Fouad Shukr late last July, saw Hezbollah launching more than 340 rockets and at 11 bases in northern Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. In the second stage, suicide drones were launched at the main targets in central Israel.
“We delayed our operation amid a buildup of Israeli and United States forces in the region, we could not afford failure, we also discussed retaliating together as a Resistance or separately, we also wanted to give enough time for ceasefire negotiations,” he said in his televised speech. “But since Netanyahu is having new demands for the ceasefire and negotiations are going nowhere, we decided to proceed.”
Nasrallah noted that Hezbollah’s goals did not involve targeting civilians, despite Israel’s repeated attacks on civilians in Lebanon.
“From the start we had goals: No civilian targets, despite the fact that Israel is targeting civilians in Lebanon. We want to protect civilians in Lebanon, and this is why we did not target civilians in Israel. We decided that our targets will be military and have to do with the assassination of Sayyed Fouad Shukr, mil intel and the air force,” he stated.
According to the leader, the primary target of the attack was the Gelilot base, which hosts the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 8200 and is located near the city Tel Aviv. A key air defense base located near the settlement of Ein Shemer was also targeted.
“Any narrative that we were going to hit civilian targets and that they preempted this is a lie. If any civilian was killed in this operation, it must have been from the enemy’s interceptors,” he said.
Moreover, Nasrallah rejected Israel’s assertion that they targeted 6,000 rockets and drones, asserting, “Israel failed to hit any of Hezbollah strategic or ballistic missiles.”
“The time assigned for the operation was after Fajr prayer at 5:15 am. All missile and drone launchers were set and programmed from the night before. Our launchers were north of the Litani river and south of it, and also in the Beqaa. Israel’s preemptive strike had no impact on Hezbollah’s retaliatory operations,” he said.
The Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah was planning to launch rockets and missiles toward Israel. Around 100 fighter jets “struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels” at over 40 sites in a preemptive attack, the military claimed.
The strikes claimed the lives of two fighters of Hezbollah and another from the allied Amal Movement. There were no reports of any civilian casualties.
Israel maintains that the Hezbollah attack didn’t cause any real damage. A neutral assessment based on evidence like satellite images is needed to verify Israel’s claims. Regardless, there is no doubt that Hezbollah opted to respond to the killing of Shukr with a very calculated attack to avoid an all-out war.
The clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border which broke out after the start of the war on Gaza will not likely cool down any time soon.
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