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Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah – Dead Man Walking
Edited by: Fern Sidman
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror organization, experienced severe emotional distress following a devastating series of Israeli attacks that decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and crippled its operational capabilities, according to his family. In interviews aired by Lebanon’s Al-Manar television, Nasrallah’s son, daughter, and grandchildren disclosed that the Hezbollah chief became deeply depressed, struggling to cope with the impact of a sudden and unprecedented escalation by Israel.
According to a report on Sunday in The Times of Israel, one of the most psychologically shattering blows for Nasrallah was Israel’s strategic use of explosive-laced pagers, which detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on September 17, 2024. This highly sophisticated operation instantly killed dozens of Hezbollah operatives and left thousands maimed. The report in The Times of Israel detailed how the attack marked a turning point in Israel’s offensive against the terror group, following nearly a year of incessant Hezbollah rocket fire that had displaced some 60,000 residents in Israel’s north. The beepers, designed to detonate when operatives held them in both hands, ensured maximum casualties among Hezbollah’s ranks, dealing a psychological as well as strategic blow.
Nasrallah’s daughter, Zeinab, provided a rare personal insight into her father’s reaction, telling Al-Manar that he was so shaken by the attack that he openly wept. According to the information provided in The Times of Israel’s report, Zeinab recalled calling her mother the day after the explosions, asking how her father had taken the news. “She told me that he cried,” Zeinab recounted, an admission that underscored the immense psychological impact the attack had on Hezbollah’s leader.
The Times of Israel report also cited Nasrallah’s son, Mohammed Jawad Nasrallah, who revealed that his father’s emotional state had been deteriorating even before the pager attack. He traced the decline back to July, when an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military commander and close ally of Nasrallah. After that, his father was never the same. “Everyone who met him said, ‘he is no longer with us,’” Jawad Nasrallah said, describing his father’s psychological withdrawal in the wake of the loss of key operatives. The Times of Israel report highlighted that this emotional collapse was further exacerbated by Israel’s relentless bombing campaign, which intensified following the beeper attack and ultimately led to the near-total destruction of Hezbollah’s senior command structure.
Over the ensuing weeks, Israeli airstrikes systematically targeted Hezbollah leadership figures, culminating in the eventual elimination of Nasrallah himself. With Hezbollah’s command in disarray, the Iran-backed group’s fighting capabilities were significantly degraded. The terror group, which had long thrived on its leader’s aura of invincibility, was now struggling with a morale crisis, as even its highest-ranking members found themselves increasingly vulnerable to Israeli intelligence and precision strikes. The report in The Times of Israel shed lighton how this military campaign effectively dismantled Hezbollah’s strategic depth, forcing the group into a ceasefire by the end of November.
Nasrallah had been aware of the personal danger he faced but had become less cautious in recent years, making him an easier target for Israel’s intelligence operations. His son noted that his father had, at some point, “dropped his guard,” no longer displaying the same level of paranoia that had helped him evade previous Israeli assassination attempts. The Times of Israel report suggested that this lapse in security awareness may have played a crucial role in Israel’s eventual ability to strike him.
The significance of Israel’s beeper operation has continued to emerge, with The Times of Israel reporting on former Mossad agents who recently spoke about the attack on CBS’s 60 Minutes. One former operative revealed that Nasrallah personally witnessed the deadly effects of the operation inside his own bunker.
The agent claimed that several Hezbollah operatives in the bunker were carrying pagers that exploded upon receiving an encrypted message from Israel. “Nasrallah—when we operated the beeper operation—just next to him in the bunker several people had a beeper receiving the message. And in his own eyes, he saw them collapsing,” the Mossad veteran recounted. The Times of Israel report noted that while the agent described this intelligence as a “strong rumor,” the account aligns with reports that the attack inflicted severe casualties among Hezbollah’s leadership and sent shockwaves through the organization.
Two days after the attack, Nasrallah attempted to project an image of resilience by delivering a speech. However, as The Times of Israel report highlighted, another Mossad agent noted that Nasrallah’s body language told a different story. “If you look at his eyes, he was defeated,” the agent said in accented English. “He already lose the war. And his soldiers look at him during that speech. And they saw a broken leader.” The beeper operation had struck at the heart of Hezbollah—not only physically but psychologically—depriving its leader of his aura of invulnerability.
Mossad chief David Barnea, as cited by The Times of Israel, characterized the beeper operation as a “turning point” in the broader conflict in Lebanon. By dismantling Hezbollah’s command structure and striking at the core of its leadership, Israel shifted the momentum of the war. Ten days later, Israeli intelligence pinpointed Nasrallah’s location in his Beirut bunker, leading to a decisive airstrike that sealed his fate. The Times of Israel reported that Nasrallah’s death left Hezbollah in turmoil, as the organization struggled to reconstitute its command hierarchy and maintain its operational capabilities.
Nasrallah was buried last week in a Beirut funeral ceremony that took place at Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Lebanon’s largest sports venue. However, the report in The Times of Israel noted that even his funeral was overshadowed by Israeli power, as warplanes flew at low altitude over Beirut as the ceremony commenced. This aerial presence served as a stark reminder of Hezbollah’s vulnerabilities and Israel’s ability to strike at will.
The beeper attack was a key element of Israel’s counteroffensive against Hezbollah, which had intensified its strikes on Israel following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack. As The Times of Israel report detailed, Hamas’s onslaught on Israeli civilians resulted in 1,200 deaths and the abduction of 251 hostages, triggering the war in Gaza. Hezbollah, acting as an ally of Hamas, escalated its attacks on northern Israel in the aftermath, prompting the IDF to retaliate with increasing force. Israel’s strategic targeting of Hezbollah’s leadership—culminating in Nasrallah’s assassination—was part of a broader effort to neutralize threats emanating from Lebanon.
As the conflict in Gaza continues to unfold, The Times of Israel reported that a complex, three-phase ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began last month. However, its future remains uncertain, as only the first stage has been implemented. The fate of the ceasefire, as well as Hezbollah’s ability to recover from the loss of its leader, will determine the trajectory of the conflict in the coming months.
