Israel Planned to Kill Nasrallah in October 2023, US Asked to Cancel Attack - Reports
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israeli air force took off to strike the location of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah shortly after the October 7 attack by Palestinian movement Hamas, but the operation was called off at the request of the US, the Financial Times newspaper reported.
The Israeli attack did not take place in October 2023, since the White House asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recall the air force, the report said.
On Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed that Nasrallah had been killed in the Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Friday.
Israel began a massive bombing campaign, codenamed Northern Arrows, in southern and eastern parts of Lebanon on Monday. The Lebanese Health Ministry put the death toll at over 1,500. Hezbollah retaliated by firing dozens of rockets toward northern Israel.
The escalation was preceded by a series of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies that rocked Lebanon from September 17-18, killing about 40 people and injuring nearly 3,500 others.
