Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader is unlikely to shift the paradigm of Middle East politics

By James M. Dorsey

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Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is likely to discover that the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will not shift the paradigm of Middle East politics.

It’s a lesson Mr. Netanyahu should have drawn from decades of Israeli targeted assassinations.

Mr. Nasrallah joined a long list of leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and an assortment of others, including Iranian nuclear scientists, targeted by Israel.  Mr. Nasrallah took control of Hezbollah in 1992 after Israel killed his predecessor, Abbas Mousavi.

Their deaths demonstrated Israel’s surveillance, intelligence, and military superiority. The killings produced short-term militant setbacks, domestic political successes for Israeli leaders, and, at times, an enhanced Israeli sense of security but failed to eliminate threats to the Jewish state’s national security.