Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated on Tuesday that Hezbollah has been “battered and broken” by continuous military strikes and the death of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Speaking during a briefing with the military’s northern command, Gallant asserted that Hezbollah is now an organization lacking significant command and firepower due to a disintegrated leadership following Nasrallah’s elimination.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military reported that approximately 85 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, including strikes on the major port city of Haifa.
Gallant described Hezbollah as “an organization without a head,” referring to the recent death of Nasrallah and suggesting that his likely successor, Hashem Safieddine, has also been eliminated. “There is no one to make decisions, no one to act,” he stated, emphasizing that Hezbollah’s firepower, which had previously been bolstered by substantial Iranian investment, has now diminished significantly.
As October 8 marks the first anniversary of Hezbollah’s cross-border exchanges with Israel in support of Hamas, the situation remains tense. The Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory offensive has reportedly killed at least 41,965 individuals in Gaza, primarily civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.
In the past year, Hezbollah has fired around 10,000 rockets into Israel, reaching as far as the central commercial hub of Tel Aviv, according to Israeli officials. Approximately 60,000 residents near the Lebanese border have fled their homes amid the ongoing conflict.
In response to these developments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the return of residents to northern Israel as a key objective in the war. Following this announcement, the Israeli military intensified its strikes against Hezbollah on September 17, targeting the group’s command centers and weapon storage facilities in southern Lebanon and Beirut, resulting in an estimated 1,110 deaths and displacing over a million people, according to Lebanese officials.
