Alongside its war on Gaza, Israel has executed an array of cyber-attacks against Hezbollah that have disrupted the group’s communication systems, carried out cyber espionage, and launched malware attacks. The attacks have killed or wounded thousands of Hezbollah operatives and decimated the group’s leadership. The international community, including the United States, European nations, and Arab states, have failed to oppose these actions, and their relative silence has provided Israel with a significant opportunity. The landscape of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict has been transformed by Israel’s sophisticated use of cyber warfare, with tremendous implications for the future of warfare.
The November 27, 2024, ceasefire between the two was supposed to end the current round of fighting. But mainly because of Israel’s violations, especially its failure to withdraw fully from southern Lebanon, the agreement is fragile, which does not augur well for long-term stability along the border. Meanwhile, Israel continues to conduct cyber operations against Hezbollah combatants.
Summer Escalation
The ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began the day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when Hezbollah launched rockets at northern Israel in solidarity with Gaza. From October 2023 through August 18, 2024, violent incidents related to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ranged from 150 to 250 each week. A major escalation point came on July 27, 2024, when a rocket tragically struck a soccer field in Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 children. This incident, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah, ignited intense discussions within the Israeli government and prompted a shift toward more aggressive targeting of Hezbollah’s leadership through cyber operations.
Shift to Cyber Warfare
On September 17 and 18, 2024, Israel’s Mossad detonated pager and radio devices used by Hezbollah across Lebanon. The operation, which Israel dubbed “Operation Grim Beeper,” targeted thousands of Hezbollah members, resulting in tens of deaths and some 3,000 injuries. The victims included Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amini, who lost an eye. This operation was a prelude to the assassination on September 27 of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and several high-ranking officials, including Ali Karaki, the commander of the group’s southern front. His killing, which Israel executed through cyber penetration of Hezbollah’s communications, was followed by the devastation of the group’s leadership. By the end of September 2024, Israel had assassinated at least seven of Hezbollah’s most senior officers.
By the end of September 2024, Israel had assassinated at least seven of Hezbollah’s most senior officers.
Israel’s infiltration of Hezbollah’s communication systems left the group struggling to make secure and strategic decisions, leading to disarray within its leadership structure. The attacks prompted Hezbollah to divert resources to safeguard its communications, a shift that jeopardized its operational effectiveness and left its militants vulnerable to Israeli maneuvers. Israel’s strategic and tactical innovation through cyber warfare has not only significantly diminished Hezbollah’s operational capacity and reshaped its immediate conflict with the Zionist state. By severely weakening Hezbollah, Israel has also set the stage for a dramatically altered power dynamic in the region.
Hezbollah’s Failures and Vulnerabilities
Strategic missteps during the war have highlighted the vulnerabilities that resulted from Hezbollah’s overconfidence and reliance on outdated military strategies. Indeed, the group’s strategic errors turned out to be severe. One major error was that, prior to the Majdal Shams incident, instead of responding to Israel’s attacks with a major offensive, Nasrallah opted for a more restrained approach and chose to strengthen the group’s rocket and drone capabilities. His strategy sought to redefine the rules of engagement, ensuring that the group was prepared for future confrontations while observing Israel’s tactics and avoiding a direct escalation for the time being.
But the group’s excessive confidence in its military posture led it to wrongly believe that Israel would avoid significant military actions against it. Hezbollah’s lack of military adaptability exposed it to Israeli intelligence operations that successfully penetrated the organization. By exploiting the group’s participation in the Syrian civil war and other activities outside of Lebanon, Israel was able to enlist informants who provided essential intelligence. Israel managed to enlist individuals to install listening devices in Hezbollah bunkers, to maintain nearly continuous oversight of the movements of the militia group’s leaders, which allowed it to, for instance, monitor encounters between a senior commander and his four mistresses. Combining human intelligence with advanced surveillance techniques greatly enhanced Israel’s targeting precision, allowing it to monitor Hezbollah leaders and militants closely and gain a significant intelligence advantage. This capability enabled Tel Aviv to conduct coordinated strikes that disrupted Hezbollah’s organizational structure, creating a sense of vulnerability within the group.
Such events dismantled Hezbollah’s long-held “invincibility” narrative and exposed glaring internal security lapses.
AI and Unit 8200
Israel has for years made substantial investments in technology, recognizing that modern warfare heavily relies on advanced tools. Experts emphasize that Israel’s new focus on artificial intelligence (AI) in its cyber operations offers both asymmetrical advantage and cost-effectiveness. In contrast, Hezbollah, a non-state actor, employs unconventional tactics, which Israel has used AI to target and disrupt. AI also assists Israel in identifying potential breaches in its digital security, thereby safeguarding sensitive communications and operations.
Attacks such as “Operation Grim Beeper” exemplify a new level of secrecy, precision, and efficiency for Israel over its traditional military engagements, and have had a major psychological impact on Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s morale has suffered due to these cyber operations and increased its members’ distrust in their communication systems.
In December 2024, for example, Israeli forces used an advanced AI tool named “Habsora” to maintain a “target bank” that catalogues Hezbollah operatives along with their respective locations and routines. The swift and precise execution enabled by such tools allows Israel to carry out previously unattainable operations, with significant repercussions for Hezbollah. Israel managed to disrupt Hezbollah’s operational capabilities within Lebanon and revealed its vulnerabilities across other networks in the broader Middle East, especially in Syria. Hezbollah’s morale has reportedly suffered due to these cyber operations and increased its members’ distrust in their communication systems. Nasrallah himself had warned in a February 2024 speech against using cell phones, saying that “the cell phone is a tapping device.” As we now know, Nasrallah’s decision to make pagers the group’s main communications technology ultimately enabled Israel to carry out “Operation Grim Beeper” with horrifying results.
Another fundamental element of Israel’s cyber warfare strategy is Unit 8200, renowned for its advanced technological capabilities. This unit specializes in signal intelligence and monitors Hezbollah’s communications (as well as those of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza). The unit intercepts communications to track Hezbollah’s movements and strategies, facilitating effective intelligence gathering. The strength of Unit 8200 illustrates the integration of conventional intelligence practices with modern technological innovations.
Israel’s use of AI in its cyber operations against Hezbollah highlights the importance of technological superiority, cost-effectiveness, and efficient responses in unconventional warfare. As the conflict evolves, all regional actors will be required to leverage AI. The AI concept sets significant precedents for future military engagements in the Middle East and globally. Israeli cyber operations targeting Hezbollah mark the beginning of a new era in conflict, where technology and warfare are increasingly intertwined in transformative ways. As Hezbollah continues to grapple with both internal and external challenges stemming from these operations, its future as an influential political and military force in Lebanon and the broader region hangs in the balance.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
Featured image credit: Shutterstock/crop media
