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The Shin Bet foiled a recent attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior Israeli security official using a remotely detonated explosive device, the security agency announced on Tuesday. The attack was intended to have been carried out in the coming days, according to the Shin Bet. The agency said that the Hezbollah network behind the attempted attack was also responsible for a bombing in Tel Aviv last year.
The Shin Bet said it uncovered a Claymore-style anti-personnel mine, known to be in possession of Hezbollah, which was intended to have been used to target the former official. The bomb had a remote detonation system, including a camera and a cellular connection, which would have allowed Hezbollah to activate it from Lebanon. The former official, who was not named, was notified by security officials of the incident.
Further details were not immediately permitted for publication. The Shin Bet said that the bomb was nearly identical to one that exploded in Hayarkon Park on September 15, 2023, in an attempted attack that caused no injuries. Two suspects were detained over that bombing on a nearby highway.
They were identified as Israeli citizens from the West Bank Palestinian town of al-Eizariya near Jerusalem, living intermittently in the Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa. That bomb, also activated by Hezbollah, was intended to harm another senior Israeli official, according to the Shin Bet. The agency said the same Hezbollah network was behind both incidents.
It added that the network was being tracked for a lengthy period. In March 2023, Hezbollah carried out a bombing attack at Israel’s Megiddo Junction , seriously injuring a man. That attack also involved the use of a Claymore-style mine.
A senior Hezbollah commander in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, responsible for that bombing, was killed in an IDF strike in February. Both incidents occurred before the war in the Gaza Strip. On October 7, Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack from Gaza on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel responded with a military offensive to destroy Hamas in Gaza and free hostages captured by terrorists. Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza during the war there. So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists.
There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries. Hezbollah has named 441 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
On Tuesday, the IDF said that three Hezbollah operatives were killed in an airstrike in southern Lebanon’s Blida. The military says it identified a group of Hezbollah operatives at a building known to be used by the terror group in Blida, and a short while later, a fighter jet struck the site. The IDF released footage of the strike.
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