TEHRAN- Israel and its Western allies, in particular the United States, have been living in cloud-cuckoo-land since the Tel Aviv regime assassinated Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital.

The Hezbollah chief was killed in Israeli brutal airstrikes on residential areas of the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut late on Friday.

The popular head of the Lebanese resistance movement was targeted after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Banned bombs 

The Israeli army used dozens of American-made bunker-busting bombs during its strikes on Dahiyeh. 

The Geneva Convention has banned the use of such bombs in densely populated areas due to the potential for significant civilian casualties.

Israeli F-15I fighter jets that dropped the bombs were equipped with at least 15 2,000-pound munitions with an American-made precision guidance system that attaches to bombs, according to an analyst cited by the New York

Times. 
Netanyahu’s office circulated a photograph of the prime minister in New York using a landline telephone to approve the strikes, according to US media.  

Horrible crime  

On Saturday, the Israeli premier said he ordered the Hezbollah chief’s assassination, which has been described by many officials as well as religious figures as a horrible crime. 

Israel killed Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s military chief, in 2008; but the resistance movement gathered strength in the years that followed.“Eliminating Nasrallah was an essential condition for achieving the aims that we have set out — returning the residents of the north safely to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region for years,” Netanyahu, known as Bibi, said. 

Tens of thousands of people have become displaced in northern Israel and southern Lebanon amid the exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah since October 8. That is a day after Israel launched war on Gaza which has so far killed more than 41,500 Palestinians. 

Netanyahu said earlier this month that returning evacuated people to northern Israel is an official war goal.

The Lebanese resistance movement had said it would halt the attacks if there was a ceasefire in Gaza. But Netanyahu not only derailed talks aimed at ending the Gaza war but also ordered a massive bombing campaign in Lebanon that began a week ago.  Hundreds of people in Lebanon have lost their lives in the Israeli strikes so far. 
Criminal collusion

Unsurprisingly, the United States has neither condemned Israel for killing hundreds of people in Lebanon nor assassinating Nasrallah whose party has been one of the leading political factions in the country’s parliament. 

President Joe Biden, whose country’s army has killed a large number of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, has called Nasrallah’s assassination “a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis,

and Lebanese civilians.”
Biden has also doubled down on support for Israel. 

Al-Aqsa Storm Operation demonstrated that the Israeli assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmad Yassin in 2004 backfired. The US has rejected any involvement in the assassination. But it seems implausible to think that Tel Aviv could have executed the Friday strikes on Beirut without the coordination of Washington.

The United States, along with several Western and regional allies, is opposed to Hezbollah and has devised strategies to oust the group from Lebanon's political sphere and dismantle its influence. However, these efforts have proven ineffective because Hezbollah continues to win more popular support stemming from its opposition to Israeli occupation and aggression.

Hezbollah establishment 

Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, ostensibly in response to attacks launched on it by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from southern Lebanon. 

Israel occupied the south and went as far as West Beirut, where the PLO was based, which it put under siege. Several Lebanese groups, including Hezbollah, were formed to repel the invasion.

Ultimately, Hezbollah drove the Israeli army out in 2000, ending the regime’s occupation after nearly 20 years. 

Nasrallah legacy 

Nasrallah is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the region who played a key role in transforming Hezbollah into a major military and political force.

The charismatic leader, who was 64 years old when he was assassinated, had led Hezbollah since the assassination of his predecessor Sayyed Abbas Al-Mousawi in 1992.

Al-Mousawi was killed by a missile strike from Israeli helicopters while driving with his wife and 6-year-old son on a road in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon on February 16, 1992. He became the Hezbollah resistance movement's secretary general in April 1991.

Israeli illusions 

Israel is under the illusion that the assassination of Nasrallah will lead to the elimination of Hezbollah. 

Israel assassinated Al-Mousawi with a similar misconception. But Nasrallah turned the movement into a more powerful political and military force. 

Hezbollah currently has 100,000 fighters. It has also increased its stockpile of missiles from 14,000 in 2006 to about 150,000 and has developed precision-guided missiles and its drone programs. 

Israel waged war on Lebanon in 2006 but Hezbollah forced the regime’s army to retreat after 34 days. 

In 2008, Israel also assassinated Hezbollah’s military leader, Imad Mughniyeh, in Syria. But the movement gathered strength in the years that followed.

Israel has also assassinated other regional resistance leaders and commanders in an attempt to cripple their movements. 
Nonetheless, this policy has backfired. 

Israel assassinated Sheik Ahmad Yassin who founded Hamas in late 1987 after the outbreak of the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in the same year. 

The Hamas spiritual leader was killed on March 22, 2004, along with nine other people in Gaza. 

Hezbollah became Israel’s recurrent nightmare after the regime assassinated its then leader Sayyed Abbas Al-Mousawi in 1992.He strongly defended the Palestinian people’s right to resist the Israeli occupation and often criticized the Palestinian Authority for discounting the armed resistance option in its dealings with the occupation regime. 

Yasin had been confined to a wheelchair following an injury he sustained at the age of 12.

Israel believed that the assassination would result in the eradication of Hamas. However, the Al-Aqsa Storm, the surprise military attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 in southern Israel, demonstrated that such actions only serve to empower Palestinians, motivating them to put up resistance against the Israeli occupation.

For now, Nasrallah’s killing will have far-reaching consequences for Israel. 

Israel should know from its experiences that Hezbollah will grow in strength and strike a crushing blow to the regime. This blow could potentially reach a magnitude that threatens the very existence of the Zionist entity.

By Shahrokh Saei