00:00:00
breaking news coming in is that the
00:00:01
Israeli military says the Hezbollah
00:00:03
leader Hassan Nala has been killed in an
00:00:06
air strike on Beirut the Israeli Defense
00:00:08
Forces said in a statement that Nala
00:00:10
will quote no longer be able to
00:00:12
terrorize the world Israel struck hpa's
00:00:15
headquarters in the city late on Friday
00:00:17
with reports indicating they were
00:00:19
targeting Nala the Lebanese militant
00:00:21
Group which normally confirms major
00:00:24
deaths among its ranks on the same day
00:00:26
has yet to comment on noa's fate he has
00:00:29
headed group for some three decades and
00:00:31
is credited with turning it into a major
00:00:34
fighting
00:00:36
[Applause]
00:00:38
force Israel's military Chief HEI halevi
00:00:41
said the attack on nasrala had been
00:00:44
prepared for a long time and will not be
00:00:46
the end of the
00:00:49
operation this is not the limit of our
00:00:51
capabilities it must be very clear there
00:00:54
are more tools at our disposal and the
00:00:56
message is simple anyone who threatens
00:00:59
the citizens of the state of Israel will
00:01:01
be reached whether in the north the
00:01:03
South or even in more distant places
00:01:06
this attack was prepared for a long time
00:01:08
executed at the right moment with great
00:01:10
precision and now we are moving forward
00:01:13
with careful preparation for the next
00:01:16
steps from wonders let's bring in DW
00:01:19
correspondent Tanya krer in Jerusalem
00:01:21
hello Tanya what are you hearing from
00:01:23
Israel regarding nales death and
00:01:26
possible retaliation by hpah
00:01:31
well most certainly everyone here was
00:01:32
waiting to hear what had happened after
00:01:35
this massive strike uh on a Friday uh
00:01:38
evening in the DEA um suburb of in
00:01:42
southern uh bayout and the Army said
00:01:46
then this morning that they actually
00:01:47
indeed killed uh the Secretary General
00:01:50
of hasbalah Hassan nasala uh according
00:01:53
to this announcement also uh other
00:01:56
commanders senior commanders were killed
00:01:59
in what they described as a Central
00:02:01
Command Center of the organization uh
00:02:04
underneath residential buildings that
00:02:07
are the Israel Air Force targeted there
00:02:10
now we have not have heard a
00:02:12
confirmation yet from
00:02:14
Hezbollah as to whether nasrala was
00:02:17
killed now this is seen as a watershed
00:02:20
moment here of course nasrala has led
00:02:22
the organization for over 30 years his
00:02:25
predecessor was also assassinated in
00:02:28
1992
00:02:30
by Israel and uh you know this comes
00:02:32
when Israel has taken es escalatory
00:02:36
steps uh since you know for the past two
00:02:38
weeks from the p and walkie-talkie
00:02:41
attacks to killing senior commanders
00:02:43
then on Monday this massive uh air
00:02:45
offensive on Southern Lebanon and
00:02:48
Eastern Lebanon and of course now this
00:02:51
we don't know yet the human tall of
00:02:53
these air strikes on the uh on Southern
00:02:56
uh bay rout but of course there's also
00:02:58
the question here in Israel now now what
00:03:00
will Hezbollah do next what will a
00:03:02
retaliation a possible retaliation look
00:03:05
like we've been hearing already air rate
00:03:07
sens as in the past weeks of course
00:03:10
going off in northern areas but you know
00:03:13
we don't know yet uh how large this will
00:03:15
get right so How likely is it that we
00:03:19
will now see an Israeli ground Invasion
00:03:22
on Lebanon cuz somehow it was
00:03:27
expected well we don't know yet exactly
00:03:30
what uh the uh military uh will do as
00:03:33
from now I I think this also depends on
00:03:36
the next steps by uh Hezbollah
00:03:38
potentially also by Iran but um we heard
00:03:42
just there the IDF chief of staff had
00:03:45
aliv as saying this is not the last tool
00:03:48
in our toolbox we've seen in the past
00:03:50
days a build up at the northern border
00:03:53
of ground forces uh also Reserve units
00:03:57
have been called up but having said that
00:03:59
there is a lot of I think substantial
00:04:01
support for the air campaign uh right
00:04:04
now in Lebanon against Hezbollah uh what
00:04:08
many Israelis see as a as a major threat
00:04:11
uh to uh Israel but you know this might
00:04:13
change also if there's a ground Invasion
00:04:16
because that is much more risky for the
00:04:17
soldiers there on the ground uh but at
00:04:20
the same time of course we've heard
00:04:22
military expert explaining that they
00:04:24
probably need to go in to create a sort
00:04:27
of buffer zone uh in this uh border area
00:04:30
so we we have to wait and see um because
00:04:33
it seems that Israel is unlikely at
00:04:35
least at this point in time as it looks
00:04:37
like uh to back down right only time
00:04:40
will tell DW correspondent Tanya kma in
00:04:43
Jerusalem thank
00:04:46
you let's get more from journalist
00:04:49
Stella Mena she joins us from Beirut
00:04:51
Stella Israel claims that he Nala has
00:04:54
been killed what more can you tell
00:04:58
us yes this is a statement that we've
00:05:01
only uh for now have heard from the
00:05:04
Israeli Army um it is no surprise as
00:05:08
there has been speculations going on um
00:05:11
ever since last night when Israeli Army
00:05:14
announced that Hassan Nella was the
00:05:16
target of the strike ever since then
00:05:19
people are wondering whether he is uh
00:05:21
still alive or not uh yesterday sources
00:05:24
very close to hisbah have denied his
00:05:27
death saying that he's in uh a good uh
00:05:31
State um but this is nothing uncommon so
00:05:34
far if we remember in August when um the
00:05:37
his Commander fat Shaker was killed this
00:05:40
is uh exactly the same thing that
00:05:43
happened back then uh after the attack
00:05:46
um the hisbah declared that he's still
00:05:49
alive and nothing has happened and later
00:05:51
on then had to admit that shooker was in
00:05:55
fact um killed right so uh basically
00:05:58
from what you're saying
00:06:00
there's not been any reaction so far
00:06:02
from hesah what about General reactions
00:06:05
inside the
00:06:08
country so inside the country the
00:06:11
reactions are a bit different there are
00:06:13
some people um on social media that are
00:06:16
celebrating the deaths of nasala they
00:06:19
seem to be very sure that this me
00:06:21
message is true and they are very happy
00:06:24
to read about the death of Nella um but
00:06:27
there are also some other people in the
00:06:29
who are more careful they are waiting to
00:06:32
hear what hisb is going to say um next
00:06:37
that hisbah has not said anything so far
00:06:40
it's no wonder they're probably still
00:06:42
busy figuring out how to communicate the
00:06:45
death how to set up the pr how to deal
00:06:47
with it and probably they're also busy
00:06:50
um to put that second uh in command um
00:06:53
in uh in a safer place right so if
00:06:58
confirmed that
00:07:00
he has been killed what will this mean
00:07:02
for
00:07:05
hesah if Nella is indeed death debt that
00:07:08
would have massive massive consequences
00:07:11
for the organization um Hassan nasrala
00:07:14
is known to be a very charismatic leader
00:07:18
uh he was very popular among um the
00:07:21
members of hisbah um because he spoke uh
00:07:25
the the urban accent here he often made
00:07:28
jokes he's also very led to Big
00:07:30
successes that Hezbollah has uh achieved
00:07:33
in the last couple of years um but he's
00:07:36
not only a very important leader for the
00:07:39
organization he's also a key figure for
00:07:42
the um whole so-called access of
00:07:46
resistant and the Iranian regime and um
00:07:50
if nasrala is death dead then um Iran
00:07:54
loses uh an important figure um nasrala
00:07:58
has was um was coordinating the attacks
00:08:03
from Lebanon with the Iranian regime and
00:08:05
the regime now has to figure out what
00:08:08
they are going to do nasarella knew
00:08:10
Lebanon much much better than the
00:08:12
Iranian regime he had an insight into
00:08:15
the country he knew about political
00:08:17
Dynamics um so if he's really uh dead um
00:08:21
he will leave a void that will be very
00:08:23
very um hard to feel right journalist
00:08:27
Stella Mena in beut thank thank
00:08:33
you let's get more with me in the studio
00:08:36
is DW Middle East analyst shannie ranes
00:08:38
shannie we have no confirmation from the
00:08:41
Lebanese side yet but why is that the
00:08:44
case well first of all probably it's a
00:08:48
good indicator of the chaos complete
00:08:49
chaos they still you know there after
00:08:51
this operation of Israeli forces
00:08:54
according to Israeli idea forces they
00:08:56
have dropped a ton of you know total sum
00:09:00
of bombs in a in a in a way ton on that
00:09:02
very building I mean there's very little
00:09:04
left behind um and of course it's also
00:09:06
the ambiguity is part of a strategic
00:09:08
tool you know they would rather you know
00:09:10
the Lebanese the Iranians they would
00:09:12
have liked to keep Israel in the dark
00:09:13
for as long as possible uh Israeli seem
00:09:16
to be very confident in this action I
00:09:18
mean there's no doubt they've been on
00:09:20
nzala tales for a long time uh I think
00:09:23
there was strategically a decision to
00:09:25
avoid hitting him until recently you
00:09:28
know there's been a shift in his policy
00:09:29
we've seen it in the last two weeks
00:09:31
definitely starting September 17th the
00:09:33
pages attack when Israel decided to go
00:09:35
into higher gear and not no longer stick
00:09:37
to this tit fortat kind of exchanges
00:09:40
we've been seeing since October and
00:09:41
eventually uh in the peak that we saw
00:09:44
last night deciding to go for the leader
00:09:47
of uh kisala nasala himself there's no
00:09:50
doubt how key nasala was to HPA now that
00:09:55
according to Israel at least that he's
00:09:57
no more what happens who takes over
00:10:00
that's a good question it's not a
00:10:01
decision to be made in in you know among
00:10:03
the ranks ofala whoever is still left
00:10:05
there alone this is definitely a
00:10:07
question that the Iranians will have to
00:10:08
do a lot with uh and they would like to
00:10:10
have somebody that they're close with
00:10:12
that they can trust but the the catter
00:10:14
of people left behind is not so big I
00:10:16
mean on the other on the one handbal was
00:10:18
a very organized hierarchal U
00:10:21
organization so and there've been people
00:10:23
in the ranks ofala for years and years
00:10:25
that have had experience but because
00:10:27
it's you know there was no democratic
00:10:29
process of election there was no it was
00:10:31
not easy to get a new vacancy in a way
00:10:33
it wasn't easy to get promoted so there
00:10:35
are people with enough experience but
00:10:36
it's not quite sure after these two
00:10:38
weeks and Israel is very hard pressure
00:10:40
onal who exactly is left and it's going
00:10:42
to be also interesting to see what the
00:10:44
Iranians choose in the sense that what
00:10:47
we've been seeing since October 7th you
00:10:49
know K bala's decision asa's decision to
00:10:52
step into this uh battle with Israel in
00:10:55
solidarity with the Palestinians and the
00:10:57
Iranians were officially congratul in
00:10:59
that and they've been you know they're
00:11:00
talking about their solidarity with the
00:11:03
Palestinian people but then at the same
00:11:05
time de facto um they've been keeping
00:11:07
sort of an arm length away from that
00:11:09
they did not want to get sucked in
00:11:10
completely into the that war and this um
00:11:14
Step that Israel has taken yesterday
00:11:16
that changes the whole Paradigm quite
00:11:18
deeply and Iranians are now facing the
00:11:20
question uh the Iranian regime and also
00:11:23
the the supreme leader himself who was
00:11:24
close and knew noala very well how deep
00:11:27
do we want to get into this how how much
00:11:29
do we let what's happening in the Middle
00:11:31
East in Israel in Palestine in with Gaza
00:11:34
all of that how much do we let it kind
00:11:36
of take over our agenda which we know
00:11:38
was actually focused on other things
00:11:40
connected to the economy there you know
00:11:42
there's also probably yet understanding
00:11:43
there needs to be more progress on the
00:11:45
nuclear deal which is the only safe
00:11:47
umbrella they have as against what they
00:11:50
see as hostility from the US and and and
00:11:52
Israel so it's going to be interesting
00:11:54
to see how they you know the Iranians
00:11:56
deal with having lost this very
00:11:58
important proxy on the verge of the
00:12:00
Israeli border from North uh that is
00:12:02
South Lebanon byala right how does this
00:12:05
all play into Israel's ultimate goal um
00:12:11
especially we been talking about a
00:12:13
possible ground invasion in this case
00:12:15
would that even still be necessary well
00:12:17
it depends I think Israel would like to
00:12:18
avoid it as much as possible a ground
00:12:20
invasion is exactly where Israel starts
00:12:22
to flail it has clear Advantage when it
00:12:24
comes to air strikes and Air Forces when
00:12:26
it comes to ground operation in the
00:12:28
south of Lebanon place that has you know
00:12:30
a stronghold ofala a lots of support
00:12:32
lots of also Through The Years
00:12:33
infrastructure and capability uh to to
00:12:36
Ambush and fight give a good fight to
00:12:39
Israeli forces they have known it
00:12:41
themselves as Israelis after 18 years in
00:12:43
what was the buffer zone back then
00:12:44
Israel had to retreat in 2000 so H foral
00:12:47
anyway it would be some sort of a gift
00:12:49
that they're giving you know the that
00:12:50
the chance for for fighting Israeli
00:12:52
troops one-on-one on the ground level
00:12:55
Israel would try to avoid it I'm not
00:12:57
sure I mean when it talks about giving
00:12:59
the Israeli citizens of the north the
00:13:01
sense of security that is good enough in
00:13:03
order for them to want to go back to
00:13:05
their houses I'm not sure Israel can
00:13:06
avoid a ground Invasion it's yet to be
00:13:08
seen the next days are very crucial uh
00:13:10
in to see how this is all is unfolding
00:13:12
how fast if at all it's escalate I
00:13:14
suspect there will be some sort of
00:13:16
response from Iran right meanwhile
00:13:18
there's still talks of a possible
00:13:20
ceasefire agreement um what are the
00:13:23
chances that we will see American
00:13:25
intervention to make that happen we've
00:13:26
seen Americans you know up until
00:13:28
yesterday still hoping uh this would
00:13:30
come to some sort of an agreement
00:13:31
because where the Americans stand is
00:13:33
that there's going to be an escalation
00:13:35
there's going to be a lot of blood uh
00:13:36
loss there's going to be a lot of damage
00:13:37
to infrastructure it's going to weaken
00:13:39
even more the already weak Lebanese
00:13:41
country and then there's going to be
00:13:43
some sort of of agreement so maybe we
00:13:44
can skip to the end and and save the
00:13:48
lives and the damage in the middle it's
00:13:50
I think it's a very logic way of seeing
00:13:53
things but I think it kind of Misses on
00:13:55
the psychology of of of this Dynamic you
00:13:58
know in in the effort of both sides to
00:14:01
deter each other and you know about how
00:14:04
the power struggle in the Middle East
00:14:06
work you know showing a force is is is
00:14:09
something that seems to be at least by
00:14:10
Israel now after October 7 seem to be
00:14:12
quite detrimental quite important in
00:14:14
trying to set up and build up its
00:14:17
strength again uh after the big blow of
00:14:19
October 7th Israel understands that it
00:14:22
could be that it could have avoided it
00:14:24
but the psychological effect of it of
00:14:26
this deterrence is something that cannot
00:14:28
be achieved by agreement so I don't see
00:14:30
it coming anytime soon but also keep in
00:14:31
mind the Americans do not want to see
00:14:33
this escalating and going out of hand
00:14:35
but at the same time they're very much
00:14:36
focused with their own agenda with the
00:14:38
elections coming and so they need to be
00:14:40
very carefully treading the line of how
00:14:42
to keep this under some sort of
00:14:45
manageable U conflict but at the same
00:14:47
time not letting it become a big topic
00:14:49
with the elections right sh was onist
00:14:52
anst thank you you're welcome
00:14:56
Ed now let's take a more de look at
00:15:00
Israel's aerial attack on hezbollah's
00:15:03
Beirut headquarters on Friday which led
00:15:05
to the reported death of the militant
00:15:07
group's leader Hassan nasrala
00:15:13
the explosions were felt as far as 30
00:15:17
kilm
00:15:18
away multiple buildings were leveled in
00:15:21
this residential suburb of Southern
00:15:24
Beirut Israel's Army quickly confirmed
00:15:27
it was behind the strike
00:15:31
moments ago the Israel Defense Forces
00:15:34
carried out a precise strike on the
00:15:38
central headquarter of the hisis balah
00:15:40
terror organization that served as a
00:15:43
epicenter of hisis bala's
00:15:45
Terror RIS bala's Central headquarter
00:15:48
was intentionally built under
00:15:50
residential buildings in the heart of
00:15:53
the D in Beirut the Israel Defense
00:15:55
Forces released this footage showing
00:15:57
defense minister Galant monitoring the
00:16:00
strikes on beut from Tel Aviv Israeli
00:16:03
media sources quoting officials say this
00:16:06
man was the target Hezbollah leader
00:16:08
Hassan nazala the strike came a day
00:16:11
after Israel rejected a 21-day truce
00:16:14
plan proposed by the United States and
00:16:16
its allies designed to prevent an allout
00:16:19
war in the Middle East it feared further
00:16:22
escalation could prompt hezbollah's
00:16:24
backa Iran to enter the
00:16:26
conflict Israel and Hezbollah have have
00:16:29
been exchanging fire across the Israel
00:16:31
Lebanon border for over 11 months since
00:16:34
the October 7th Terror attacks on Israel
00:16:36
by hezbollah's Palestinian Ally Hamas
00:16:39
both are considered terrorist groups by
00:16:41
multiple countries but this week Israel
00:16:44
dramatically intensified its strikes on
00:16:47
Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon killing 700
00:16:50
people according to Lebanese officials
00:16:53
and prompting more than a 100,000
00:16:55
civilians to
00:16:57
flee on Friday Iran's Embassy in Lebanon
00:17:00
vowed punishment for Israel saying the
00:17:03
strike quote changes the rules of the
00:17:05
game and that's just what international
00:17:08
observers
00:17:10
fear with Israel reported to have moved
00:17:13
thousands of troops towards the Border
00:17:15
in preparation for a potential ground
00:17:18
Invasion the prospects of a wider War
00:17:21
seem higher than
00:17:24
ever let's bring in Marram rabber
00:17:27
assistant professor of History at the
00:17:29
American University of Beirut hello and
00:17:31
welcome sir what's your reaction to the
00:17:33
news that Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nala
00:17:35
has been
00:17:37
killed well I would say that this is a
00:17:39
natural progression of events especially
00:17:41
that from the beginning of the war up
00:17:43
until now hassanah and hisbah and by
00:17:46
extension Iran have refused to
00:17:49
disconnect from the war in Palestine and
00:17:51
in addition to the fact that they have
00:17:54
failed to understand that the world has
00:17:55
changed while many people are looking at
00:17:58
the strike as a kind kind of a military
00:17:59
Victory I think what is happening is
00:18:01
basically it's a political
00:18:03
decision to get rid of hisbah and as
00:18:06
well as to put Iran uh under under trial
00:18:09
in a way Nala's militia are not
00:18:13
responsible only for the destruction of
00:18:15
Lebanon but in a way they were leading
00:18:16
the so-called Iranian expansions plan in
00:18:20
the region and so we see that the total
00:18:22
collapse of hisbah and the total
00:18:25
collapse of the Lebanese state is
00:18:27
something that every one of us as leines
00:18:29
should take a step back and think what
00:18:31
will happen after the Declaration
00:18:34
official Declaration of hisbah that
00:18:36
their leader and their so-called cult
00:18:38
personality have been killed and his
00:18:41
command has been wiped out right it's
00:18:44
interesting what you say because that's
00:18:45
exactly what I want to hammer on because
00:18:46
you know we've not heard a confirmation
00:18:48
from hpah yet but if his death is
00:18:51
confirmed what could it really mean for
00:18:53
hesah and its
00:18:56
operations well I think this idea that
00:18:58
buah cannot be destroyed is something
00:19:01
that was defeated in the streets of
00:19:04
Beirut the problem here is that hisbah
00:19:07
is only a manifestation of Iran and if
00:19:10
left alone Iran can go back to being a
00:19:12
spoiler in the region unfortunately I
00:19:16
have no problem with actually the
00:19:17
politics of hisbah because this is
00:19:19
something I'm willing to uh to debate
00:19:21
forever however we have to ask ourselves
00:19:23
where is the Lebanese government here
00:19:25
because hisbah showed that he is not
00:19:28
interested in the in the innocent
00:19:30
civilians first of all by storing
00:19:32
weapons and Rockets within civilian
00:19:34
populations and the explosions going off
00:19:37
across Lebanon is a case in point and
00:19:40
more importantly they have not set up
00:19:42
any kind of a civilian emergency plan
00:19:44
many of the innocent people that were
00:19:46
driven out of their homes in their
00:19:48
pajamas with their kids slept out in the
00:19:50
open sore and this is something which is
00:19:53
more tragic than the killing of nasala
00:19:56
so here we have to say that one has to
00:19:58
go back to the basics first of all the
00:20:00
International Community is clearly
00:20:01
telling us we should Implement un
00:20:03
Security Council resolution 1559 which
00:20:06
is basically no armed groups in Lebanon
00:20:10
except the Lebanese Army and Lebanese
00:20:11
state so if the ruling establishment and
00:20:13
the ruling Elite do not convene
00:20:15
immediately and elect a president and
00:20:18
reformulate the government lebanon's
00:20:20
tragedy will only be uh what we are
00:20:23
seeing is only just a sample of the
00:20:25
ongoing tragedy and this will become
00:20:27
worse and worse as time goes by right
00:20:31
and and worse and worse is where world
00:20:34
leaders don't want this to get they want
00:20:35
to prevent further escalation now Israel
00:20:39
has eliminated many hespa leaders in
00:20:41
recent days does hespa still have a
00:20:44
command structure or could this be the
00:20:47
end of
00:20:49
hollah I am someone who has never looked
00:20:51
at hezbollah's military capabilities
00:20:53
with much admiration and what had
00:20:55
happened recently proves my point first
00:20:57
of all hisbah is only a militia that is
00:21:01
serving the purpose of Iran by
00:21:03
suppressing the people of the region
00:21:05
Hezbollah is only good at killing Arabs
00:21:07
and killing Lebanese and syrians and
00:21:09
Iraqis and yemenis and they were never
00:21:11
ever geared towards really fighting
00:21:13
Israel and here and more importantly one
00:21:15
of the cardinal sins of hisbah that it
00:21:18
has lost its Compass so to speak
00:21:20
initially when hisbah was founded in
00:21:22
1982 it was founded against the backdrop
00:21:25
of the Israeli Invasion so they claimed
00:21:27
they wanted to liberate land at the
00:21:29
moment there's no occupied Lebanese land
00:21:32
whatsoever to fight for more importantly
00:21:35
when you do not have the national
00:21:36
interest of the Lebanese in mind this is
00:21:38
what happen so I don't think and I
00:21:40
actually have information that many of
00:21:42
the counter attacks that the hisbah
00:21:46
fighters are doing right now are more or
00:21:48
less uh individual initiatives meaning
00:21:51
that they don't have any sort of contact
00:21:53
with their leadership more than 90% of
00:21:56
hb's leadership are nowhere to be found
00:21:59
some of them are dead in the rubble and
00:22:02
some of them are actually hiding within
00:22:03
civilian uh civilian population which is
00:22:06
basically very alarming right we cannot
00:22:09
talk about Hezbollah without mentioning
00:22:12
Iran a main supporter and Backer of
00:22:14
hesah what does this mean for
00:22:18
Iran well Iran now has the difficult
00:22:21
decision if they think that they can get
00:22:23
away with destroying Lebanon and
00:22:26
Palestine and simply just lay low as the
00:22:29
president Iranian president at the
00:22:31
moment tried to do at the UN General
00:22:34
Assembly meetings and saying that that
00:22:36
Iran wants to uh to cooperate in order
00:22:39
to establish security and stability in
00:22:41
the region now they have been called out
00:22:44
so their Bluff of being a kind of a
00:22:47
positive uh positive uh Factor will be
00:22:52
determined in the next couple of uh of
00:22:54
days moreover I believe that ultimately
00:22:57
Netanyahu as well as many Western
00:23:00
countries has gotten to this realization
00:23:02
that if we do not address the elephant
00:23:05
in the room which is Iran this will only
00:23:08
be one episode in a series of other
00:23:10
chapters that can only bring more death
00:23:13
and destruction to the entire region as
00:23:15
well as to the International
00:23:18
Community right mam Raba from the
00:23:20
American University of Beirut thank you
00:23:23
for your insights thank you thank you
00:23:25
very much