Some Israeli security officials say that the pager operation against Hezbollah was child’s play compared with the preparations for a far riskier mission—a clandestine Mossad operation carried out under fire in the Hezbollah stronghold of the Dahieh neighborhood in Beirut, Ynet revealed on Sunday.
In September 2024, a Mossad team entered the crowded Shiite neighborhood of Haret Hreik carrying packages disguised as casual everyday items. They shielded their heads as they walked through the alleys, narrowly avoiding being struck by shrapnel as Israeli jets bombarded the area to drive away the armed Hezbollah guards.
The agents were well aware of the stakes: capture meant certain death, and discovery of their devices could compromise Israel’s most sensitive technologies. Their destination was a high-rise apartment block concealing Hezbollah’s underground command bunker—a location known only to Nasrallah’s closest circle.
Intelligence suggested that Nasrallah himself was scheduled to meet there with Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan and Hezbollah’s southern front chief, Ali Karaki.
The daring Mossad agents who carried out the operation believed their odds of survival were only 50-50. Even if they escaped detection by armed Hezbollah guards, they faced a high risk of being struck by Israeli shrapnel. A tense conversation between the agents and their handler was held only hours before the operation. The agents insisted that the Israeli Air Force halt its fire during their mission, but the handler refused to consider it, saying that the strikes would force the Hezbollah guards to run for shelter, providing the opportunity for the agents to infiltrate the building.
The sophisticated devices the agents planted were essential for the success of the mission, allowing fighter pilots to carry out precise and penetrating strikes at varying depths underground. Even a one-meter deviation could doom the mission, with bombs striking areas adjacent to—rather than into—tunnels. The weapons that penetrated Dahieh’s underground maze had been developed in 2022, before Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault. The program—a collaboration between the Defense Ministry, Unit 8200, Rafael, and Elbit—produced warheads and targeting systems designed to strike at variable depths underground. The technology was intended not only for Lebanon but also for a potential future strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
On Sept. 27, 2024, 10 Israeli fighter jets unleashed 83 one-ton BLU-109 bunker busters, guided not only by GPS but also by the Mossad’s specialized targeting devices planted by the agents. The bombs collapsed the command bunker, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Karaki, Nilforoushan, and hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists. Israeli officials declared Hezbollah’s central command effectively destroyed.
The original plan called for about half that number of bombs. But then—Defense Minister Yoav Gallant insisted the number be doubled to ensure Nasrallah’s death.
The eliminations triggered Hezbollah’s fiercest retaliation in decades—barrages of rockets, drones, and anti-tank fire under the banner of “Operation Khaybar,” after a 7th-century Muslim victory over Jewish tribes in Arabia. The group quickly named Hashem Safieddine as Nasrallah’s successor, but he too was eliminated in an Israeli strike a week later. Naim Qassem then assumed leadership of the embattled terror organization.
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