Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, saw its command structure across Lebanon fall in what Israeli officials described on April 8 as one of the most devastating blows of the war.
Almost simultaneously, explosions ripped through Beirut, Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, while about 50 Israeli aircraft hit more than 100 Hezbollah targets.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the targets were not rocket launchers or weapons depots, but the organization’s nerve centers: command rooms, intelligence headquarters and offices where Hezbollah commanders planned the next phase of the battle.
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The attack marked a new phase in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out on March 2 after Hezbollah entered the conflict in support of Iran, a day after US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since then, Hezbollah has fired rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles into northern Israel, while Israel has responded with increasing airstrikes and a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
Smoke rises after Israeli attacks in Lebanon following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel during the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, seen from Marjayoun, Lebanon, March 5, 2026. (Karamallah Daher/Reuters)
“Within just one minute, the IDF eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists in three areas simultaneously,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that the assessment was still ongoing.
Israeli intelligence services tracked Hezbollah operatives as they moved between apartments, offices and safe houses across Lebanon.
“The timing had to do with preparations,” Shoshani said. “There were weeks of astonishing intelligence.”
Asked whether the operation showed that Israel still has deep penetration into Hezbollah despite months of war, Shoshani pointed to the scale of the attack.
“The fact that we were able to find 250 terrorists hiding in various locations in Lebanon, many of them in locations in recent weeks, and eliminate them in real time, I think the capabilities speak for themselves,” he said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned Wednesday’s strikes.
“The scale of killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrifying,” said United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. “Such a massacre, within hours of the ceasefire agreement with Iran, defies belief.”
“This response will continue until Israeli-American aggression against our country and our people ceases,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
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An explosion erupts from a building after an Israeli attack in central Beirut, Lebanon, March 18, 2026. (Hussein Malla/AP)
The attack drew comparisons to the “pager” operation in September 2024, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives detonated almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria in an operation widely blamed on Israel.
Lebanese authorities said the blasts killed more than 40 people and injured around 4,000, while Hezbollah later acknowledged that around 1,500 fighters had been knocked out of action. The operation shattered Hezbollah’s communications network and became the benchmark in Israel for an attack that fundamentally changed the battlefield.
“The beeper had more… effective wounds. That was the purpose of it,” Shoshani said. “But both targeted hundreds of terrorists within 60 seconds.”
Like the pager operation, he said, the April 8 attack was intended not only to kill officers but also to confuse Hezbollah.
“It was important for the aspect of creating disorder, breaking their chain of command, breaking their command and patrol capabilities and throwing the organization out of balance,” he said.
A former Israeli intelligence official said the attack may not have reached the level of the pager operation, but it appeared to hit an unusually broad swath of Hezbollah’s mid-level management.
According to the former official, Hezbollah remains shocked by the blow, even though this has not yet been reflected in a decrease in rocket fire.
But he cautioned against judging the operation solely on the number of deaths.
The real measure, he said, is whether the strike changes the course of the war and makes Hezbollah less able to operate.
The IDF said many of the dead belonged to Hezbollah’s Radwan force, Hezbollah’s most capable and best trained combat unit, intelligence apparatus, missile units and air unit 127.
The Israeli military said most of the targets were in civilian areas.
“Most of the affected infrastructure was located in the heart of the civilian population,” the IDF said.
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The Israeli military said most of the targets were in civilian areas. (Fadel Itani/AFP)
Shoshani said Israel had warned civilians to evacuate before the attacks, but Hezbollah moved its operatives to new civilian locations.
“When we issued the warnings for areas, civilians moved away, then Hezbollah saw them leaving and started hiding behind civilians in new locations,” he said.
Despite the blow, Israeli officials say Hezbollah remains a major threat. Shoshani said the group, which possessed between 150,000 and 200,000 rockets before the war, still has the ability to fire on Israel.
“They still pose a real threat to our citizens,” he said.
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Smoke rises after attacks on the southern outskirts of Beirut, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel during the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, seen from Baabda, Lebanon, March 5, 2026. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
The strike comes as Israel and Lebanon began their first direct talks in more than three decades at the US State Department in Washington.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has indicated his willingness to discuss the normalization and eventual disarmament of Hezbollah, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted there will be no ceasefire until Hezbollah is dismantled and pushed back from the border.
Within hours of the diplomatic opening, Israeli warplanes again struck Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel.
Reuters contributed to this report.
