IDF Eliminates Hezbollah Official Overseeing Weapons Transfer From Syria to Lebanon

Latest Developments

• Israel Eliminates Senior Hezbollah Member: An Israeli airstrike in Damascus killed Salman Nemar Jamaa, a senior Hezbollah figure responsible for liaising with the Syrian army, on December 3. The IDF confirmed that Jamaa was eliminated in an “intelligence-based strike,” noting that he was responsible for facilitating weapons smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah during Israel’s military campaign against Hamas. The IDF rarely acknowledges striking inside Syria but has targeted Iranian weapons shipments and individuals affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah involved in weapons smuggling.  

• IDF Warns Tehran Against Rearming Hezbollah: In response to the Islamic Republic deploying forces to Syria amid the resurgence of Sunni Islamist rebels in Aleppo, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned Tehran on December 2 not to leverage its presence to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah. The previous day, the Israeli Air Force blocked an Iranian plane that was ferrying weapons from landing in Syria. The plane was owned by Iran’s Mahan Air, a company closely affiliated with the IRGC.  

• Hezbollah Planned Its Own Version of October 7: IDF intelligence sources revealed on December 4 that Israel had foiled plans by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force to carry out a massacre in northern Israel similar to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, atrocities in southern Israel. An IDF intelligence official told Fox News Digital that Radwan forces had prepared “their own 10/7” by seeking to launch a major assault into Israel’s Galilee region, calling their plan “Conquer the Galilee.” Radwan members detained by the IDF admitted that they received orders to take Israeli civilians hostage and kill those who resisted.

FDD Expert Response

“Relying on the Lebanese government to prevent Hezbollah’s rearmament is a fool’s errand. Israel seems to be recognizing that Beirut’s acceptance of the ceasefire deal and decoupling the Lebanon and Gaza fronts was a mere ruse to return to the status quo before the war and that Lebanon has no intention of acting against Hezbollah.” — David Daoud, Senior Fellow

“It was no secret that Hezbollah intended to invade the Galilee. However, the document seized by the IDF revealed a more extensive strategy: Hezbollah aimed to conquer cities and towns deep within Israeli territory, not merely those along the Lebanon border. Executing this plan would have necessitated a substantial deployment of Hezbollah forces and, if successful, would likely have caused far greater devastation to Israel than the Hamas-led attack on October 7.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

“Tehran continues to exploit the Syrian regime’s fragility to strengthen its foothold in the Levant. So long as Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad stays in power, Damascus will act as a corridor for the Islamic Republic’s malign ambitions of targeting U.S. forces and allies in the region. Confronting the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ requires not only weakening the military capabilities of its proxies but also dismantling their coordination and logistical networks.” — Janatan Sayeh, Research Analyst

FDD Background and Analysis

“The impact of Israeli operations on Hezbollah’s organizational structure,” by David Daoud and Ahmad Sharawi

“‘Significant’ Damage: IDF Strikes Hezbollah Smuggling Routes Between Syria and Lebanon,” FDD Flash Brief

“Iran hails ceasefire as an opportunity to rebuild Hezbollah,” by Janatan Sayeh