THE MAIN OPERATIONAL CHALLENGE IN ELIMINATION OPERATIONS IS FIRST AND FOREMOST ACCURATE INTELLIGENCE

Nasrallah elimination: How the IAF secretly prepared – and kept its own crews in the dark

"It was a very complex operation planned for a long time; I was involved in several versions of it in my previous role as well," says air force base commander.

 

By Lilach Shoval  

 

Israel Hayom

Sep 28, 2024

 

 

The Israeli strike that flattened six buildings above Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut

 

"We have three objectives: returning the hostages, dismantling Hamas, and safely bringing back the residents of the north. This remains our focus, despite the current media attention on the northern front," says Brig. Gen. Amichai Levin, commander of Hatzerim Air Force Base, in a joint interview with Lt Col M., commander of the 69th Squadron, following the elimination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

Levin has only been in command of Hatzerim Base for about two weeks, but previously served as head of the Attack Department at Air Force Headquarters, the division responsible for operational planning in the northern arena. "I was involved in most of the planning," he notes.

"The base, the squadron, and the entire Israeli Air Force continue to operate intensively and significantly in Gaza, but we've reached a strategic point where it became necessary to separate the northern front from the Gaza arena to achieve all our objectives. If we want to return residents to the northern border, the separation between the fronts is critical, to dismantle Hamas and create conditions for the return of the hostages.

"Yesterday, we carried out a historic operation with deep strategic importance that extends beyond Lebanon's borders. Nasrallah's elimination will have a profound impact that will change the Middle East and bring us closer to achieving our war objectives. It was a very complex operation planned for a long time; I was involved in several versions of it in my previous role as well."

Levin describes the operation as "exceptional cooperation between Military Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Air Force. Intelligence and the air force bring unimaginable capabilities to the table."

"Beyond the technical aspect, the operation expresses initiative, audacity, determination, and offensiveness that were lacking before October 7, and this is our most important lesson from it. We need to act proactively and offensively against all those who wish us harm, and there's no shortage of them. The mission is not over; they continue to fire from the north, the hostages are in Gaza, and we haven't marked the root treatment of Hamas in the south. We remain focused, with humility and diligence, on the threats. Just last night, the squadron and the Israeli Air Force continued to operate powerfully until we complete the missions."

Lt Col M, 37, has been commanding the 69th Squadron, which carried out the elimination, for several months. He took command in the middle of the war after commanding an F-15 squadron at Tel Nof Base. Lt Col M.'s family is from the north, and his wife is from a kibbutz on the border fence. Her family has been evacuated and is staying with the lieutenant colonel.

"The squadron has been operating in war for about a year now, in all sectors, and in the last week has been attacking and defending significantly in the northern arena," he recounts.

"Three hugs after landing: for the navigator, the technical officer, and my wife" Lt Col M describes how the squadron prepared for the elimination operation in recent days, alongside the alertness during the days until the opportunity arose. "The preparation process – it started with a technological process, taking the planes, arming them. It involves a lot of forces and significant firepower. Many people in the base and squadron's technical array were under the wings and sweating, as they have been throughout the war."

"The second process was preparing the operational crews - planning, briefing, thinking about cases and responses. On a mental level, people understood that they were going into a significant operation where they needed to be very precise because this was a very rare opportunity and we needed to succeed, to be 100% ready. There was a wide range of crews that flew, from crews that finished their training only a year ago, the number 2s were young guys, there were both regular service and reserve personnel, the oldest of them in their 50s, with rich experience."

"The formation that flew was diverse, young and experienced," he recounts. "I and a reservist led the operation. Everything we planned went out accurately, without hitches – not in the intelligence planning aspect, not in the planes, and not in the execution itself. A huge sense of pride as a squadron commander, everything went smoothly. We prepared ourselves for cases and responses, but in practice, we didn't use them this time. We went out to attack massively, in the heart of Beirut, in Dahiyah, we knew who we were going to eliminate."

"Three hugs after the landings: when we land, you hug the crews because you realize you've done something big, historic, and once in a lifetime. My navigator, who is a reservist, over 40. The second hug to my technical officer, who and his people armed the planes. He's from the north, his uncle was killed by Hezbollah in 2007. And the third hug – I returned home and met my wife, her family evacuated from the kibbutz. We didn't talk much, but they understood very well where I came back from. And then we went straight back to work to carry out operational missions, without stopping, and mainly to wait. Just as there was quality intelligence pre-operation, to wait to confirm that the mission was completed."

"The main operational challenge in elimination operations is first and foremost accurate intelligence," adds Levin. "All the intelligence agencies of the IDF and the defense establishment are working to bring accurate intelligence. The second big challenge is to ensure that the object that needs to be eliminated, in this case, Hassan Nasrallah, and others, don't receive early warning and escape when the planes are on their way to execute or when the munitions are on their way to the target. We continue to refine this all the time, mainly through many young officers who give ideas on how to deceive our enemies so that the target remains stable during execution. The anti-aircraft array in Lebanon is very significant, and it's still a threat. In the months of the war, we've hit Hezbollah's air defense system, and even more so in Operation 'Northern Arrows'. Their residual capability has decreased significantly. It's still a significant focus in the air force."

 

  

IAF airforce planes returning from the elimination mission on Sept. 28, 2024

 

Brig Gen Levin: "No missiles were fired at the planes during the execution, there was no risk to the planes in real-time." Lt Col M: "We've been preparing for this operation for several days, a compartmentalization process that we're slowly exposed to. At headquarters, they understand what the target is, the squadron is exposed a few days before execution. To maintain compartmentalization in case the operation is postponed – we work on the planning without knowing what the target is, we work on the conditions for execution, and a few hours before execution, we expose the crews to the operation, when we understand that there's approval to go out for the operation. A few hours before the operation, it causes people to understand mentally what they're going for, what the policy is, on what basis they're flying, what the risks are. We expose this at the right time because an operation like this can be postponed, information security is significant. Both before and after."

Brig Gen Levin: There's a wide range of tools that were operated in this operation, we won't refer to the technical details of the operation. But the execution and attack are carried out by Squadron 69 in full. In every Air Force operation, there are many circles of activity that are required to synchronize an aerial operational action - everything from prior intelligence gathering, rescue forces in case something goes wrong, intervention forces and air superiority in case there are aerial threats. Everything is synchronized at the Air Force's operational headquarters.

Brig Gen Levin: To achieve results, you need extraordinary intelligence knowledge, and you need to give credit to the entire intelligence community led by Military Intelligence. Precision and synchronization with a large amount of munition are required here to bring the achievement, and this is part of the challenges for the pilots in the operation. To bring such an amount of heavy munition in a wide scope with high synchronization without malfunctions is a badge of honor for the technical array of the Air Force. They are an integral part of the mission. Without them, our capability is such. This is the living spirit under the wings.

In response to a question about the protests against the government in 2023,  Levin says: "The 69th Squadron is strategic in the Israeli Air Force. Some of the most important missions that the Air Force carries out are placed on its shoulders. The warriors in the squadron are diverse, half of them are reserve fighters. Half of the participants in the operation are reserve fighters. Let none of them doubt their love for the State of Israel and their willingness to sacrifice their lives in missions near or far. This operation highlights this, but for 11 months already they've been on alert in the squadron, flying around the clock and will continue to do so for years to come.