Israel overhauled spying tools to kill Hezbollah leader – FT

The security services sifted through vast amounts of data while relying on high-tech intelligence gathering methods, the paper reports

Israel was able to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah only after overhauling its approach to intelligence gathering, focusing its efforts on meticulously scouring large amounts of data, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing experts.

Nasrallah has been a priority target of the Israeli military for decades, surviving several assassination attempts during the 2006 Lebanon War alone. But despite years of fighting Hezbollah, Israel has only recently turned the tide, the newspaper said.

The shift in momentum became possible after Israeli secret services significantly increased the depth and quality of their intelligence gathering on Hezbollah and began treating it not as a terrorist group hiding in a cave, but as a well-organized “terror army,” the FT said.

According to the paper, the Syrian civil war proved to be a game changer for the intelligence community. As Hezbollah fought in the neighboring country, it had to step up recruitment, making it more vulnerable to Israeli spies.

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The Syrian conflict also became “a fountain of data” for Israel, which used computer algorithms to process nuggets of information – including obituaries, data on deceased fighters’ birthplaces, and their circle of friends, the article said. According to the FT, the funerals were extremely useful because they often brought Hezbollah commanders out of the shadows.

As a result of the fighting in Syria, Hezbollah “went from being highly disciplined and purists to someone who let in a lot more people than they should have,” Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said, adding that the group grew increasingly complacent and arrogant.

These efforts, the FT continued, have been aided by Israel’s ever-growing prowess in spy satellites, drones, and hacking capabilities. Israel has also developed algorithms that allow it to sift through terabytes of images.

Moreover, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war last October, West Jerusalem appeared “to have lulled Nasrallah into thinking that the two arch-rivals were involved in a new sort of brinkmanship,” as Israel and Hezbollah exchanged cross-border strikes without further escalation.

However, Israel instead proceeded to embrace some of its most advanced warfare options, the article said. Earlier this month, a wave of pager and portable radio detonations targeting Hezbollah officials swept through the Middle East, killing and maiming dozens. According to the FT, the Israelis were also able to pinpoint Nasrallah’s location, proceeding to strike a compound in Beirut that killed the longtime leader.

In response, Hezbollah pledged to continue “its jihad in confronting the enemy,” while Iran, the group’s key backer, vowed to avenge his death. As a result, the Israeli military was put on high alert to fend off any potential retaliation.