Israeli leaders had known for months where Hassan Nasrallah was and decided to strike him last week because they believed they had only a short window before the Hezbollah leader disappeared to another location, according to three senior Israeli defense officials.
Two of them said more than 80 bombs were dropped over a period of several minutes to kill the Hezbollah leader. They did not confirm the weight or type of the bombs.
Hezbollah agents found and identified Nasrallah’s body early Saturday, along with that of a senior Hezbollah military commander, Ali Karaké, according to the officials, who cited intelligence obtained from inside Lebanon. The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject.
Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Mr. Nasrallah had been killed in Israeli strikes.
The operation had been planned since the beginning of the week, as Israeli political leaders discussed with their American counterparts the possibility of a ceasefire in Lebanon, and before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Israel for deliver a speech at the United Nations, according to two of the officials.
The three officials said Hachem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who plays a key role in the movement’s political and social work, was one of the few senior Hezbollah leaders not present at the site of the strike.
They claimed that Safieddine, who has long been seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah, could soon be announced as Hezbollah’s new secretary general.
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