"Setback for Israel," Defence Expert on death of Hezbollah leader

New Delhi [India], September 28 : The killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israeli in a targetted strike near Beirut is a big setback to the Iranian-backed group according to Defence Experts.
While speaking to ANI, Defence expert Praful Bakshi said that Israel will not listen to any moral lectures and will continue fighting.
"It is a very big setback for Hezbollah. It is a great achievement for Israel. And Israel is not going to listen to any moral lectures like- 'Don't fight, fighting is bad', etc. [Israel] says, we are fighting for survival of our race, of our women and children and our race. [Israel] says no amount of teaching will deter us from our objective, and that is to destroy, eliminate this radical Islam which is working against Israel," Bakshi said.
According to the expert, Nasrallah's death is like a shock to Lebanon because they did not think that he could be eliminated so easily.
"Nasrallah's death is going to give a considerable shock to Hezbollah, the fighters and their supporters in Lebanon because they were not thinking that he could be eliminated so easily. He has been eliminated by which method? How did they find his locations, coordinates and what sort of missile attacked? To find out that's a different thing. But the question is, this is happening, and this is happening at a very fast pace, whether it is through telephones, through pagers, television, anything, where the electronic media cyber mix, computer mix, is coming into play, there are waves which are created [which have] now become their own enemy, the enemy where missiles and explosives can ride on those waves and come to you. So this aspect is becoming very serious," he said.
Waiel Awwad, West Asia Strategist, said that the killing of Hezbollah leader is a claim by Israel and that the Lebanese government has not confirmed it yet. So, it only remains as a speculation.

"Yes, this is a claim by the Israeli army, but, no confirmation yet from Hezbollah headquarters in Lebanon or not from the Lebanese government. So it is just a speculation. But the war continues and Israel is still attacking Lebanon and also Hezbollah is retaliating and attacking inside Israel," he said.
Talking about how this would impact the war, he said that this won't have much impact except psychological impact.
"I don't think it has a huge impact. Definitely it's going to have a psychological impact on international community. Besides, because Israel is trying to have some sort of glorifying its attack on Gaza, because they have been humiliated for the last one year because of the attack by Hamas on October 7 until date, almost one year, they are unable to achieve their objective and they are unable to eliminate Hamas. So there is a huge humiliation for the Israeli cabinet and the government," he said.
Awwad said that killing of the supreme leader of Hezbollah is a gain for Israel, but the former have commandoes at each level.
"Killing a leader or commando or supreme leader of the Hezbollah party is a gain for them. But I would say still we have to wait and see. It's not going to change much on the ground because the structure of the Hezbollah party is so strong and they have the commander at every level. So there is no question that will have an impact. In fact, when Israel was trying to destroy the communication system, they blew up the tunate bombs in the pagers, the walkie talkie and laptops, didn't change much on the ground. So the ground reality is different from what the psychological war is on," he said.
When asked who will succeed Nasrallah and how will they retaliate, Awwad said that the war on Lebanon is actually to access the water there.
"We have to understand that the war on Lebanon is not the war on Hezbollah, the pretext that it is Hezbollah who is defending, who is causing the trouble for Israel. It's just a pretext to invade Lebanon, Israel aiming and occupying more territories of Lebanon, gaining access to the water of Lebanon, because that is the whole doctrine of Israel, land and water. So they will not stop," he said.
Awwad recalled that in 1982, Hezbollah was born out of Israeli invasion of Beirut and that the war will continue till Israel stops the invasion.
"So Hezbollah is only a pretext if you will know that 1982, when Hezbollah was born, he was born out of the Israeli invasion of Beirut, where they invaded Beirut and then Hezbollah came to power, came to the light. So therefore, as long as there is occupation and annexation of land, there is a resistance. But Hezbollah has taken the lead. It was only with Hezbollah that they could deter Israel from invading Lebanon again. And that is what we keep on saying to the rest of the world, nobody wants a war, but you also nobody wants occupation. So if you end occupation, the war is over. And Hezbollah said to Israel very clearly from October 7, if you don't stop the attack and all your hostility against the Palestinian in Gaza Strip and West bank, we will not stop attacking you. So I think that was the message from Hezbollah. But the war has been going on for years with Lebanon," he said.
Talking about what he thought would be the duration of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Awwad said, "It will continue for some time. Actually the Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu is trying to drag United States into a regional war. He wanted to bring Hezbollah, Lebanon and Iran on the same platform because that's the only way to bring United States into the war. Because at the end of the day, the objective for Israel is to destroy Iran and to destroy Hezbollah. And then they wanted to destroy the axis of resistance which extends from Iran to Iraq, to Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Houthi in Yemen. So if that is the objective of United States and the western world, then the war will not stop here. It's going to be a long haul war. And this perpetual provocation, which is continue, it menas that we are going for a permanent war in the Middle east and in West Asia...because they don't want peace, or to implement the UN Security Council in this regard, to have a two state solution of Palestine. So the crux of the problem remains, that the Palestinian state has to coexist with Israel if we wanted peace and resistance, as long as you do not satisfy both the parties, I don't think there is a question of survival. It will be a model of extensional war between either the Israelis or the Arabs in that part of the world."
Talking about who would now lead the Hezbollah, Awwad said that they already have an alternative.
"Well, there is already top commander. They already have an alternative in case he has died. So there will be some people to replace him. There is no question of that. Resistance to the Israel will stop with the death of Hassan Nasrallah. In fact, the war will continue as long as there is occupation by Israel," he said.
Awwad said that Israel is getting suppport from the United States.
"Well, Israel is very happy that they have killed the leader and they needed something to tell their own people that Israel is no weaker. Israel has been selling to the Arab and rest of the world that it is the mightiest power in the Middle east. But with the attack of Hamas on them for the last one year, we saw their weakness and their only survival is only because of the western world and the American troops, which, in fact have supplying them the weapons and all the latest technology, where they are attacking inside Gaza Strip and inside also Lebanon. So even in Syria, daily attack is being carried on by the Israelis. It's because of the Americans. It's not because of the Israeli army. So therefore, if Hassan Nasrallah is removed, it is just for some kind of a sort of exciting movement that they are looking for to have the joy to gain and give confidence to their people that they will follow and kill anyone who tries to harm Israel," he said.
Talking about Iran's role in the conflict, he said, "Iran going to play a major role. Iran not going to stay silent. Neither Iran, nor Syria, nor Iraq, nor any part of the regional war...The countries in the region do not want the war. And Iran have already voted that they will retaliate for the killing of Ismail Haniyyah in their own territories. But they were postponing it till there was a kind of a diplomatic talk that could be a peace talk and a truce in Gaza Strip. And the war is over. But now with attack on Lebanon and this mass killing of civilians, I think all the options are open, and it's an all-out war now."