After Israel's withdrawal and for a short period, Israeli assassinations of Lebanese individuals on Lebanese soil stopped.
However, with the beginning of the Second Uprising in Palestinian territories and an increase in operations within the West Bank and the 1948 territories, Israel accused Hezbollah's Unit 1800, the foreign operations unit operating in Palestinian territories, Egypt, and Israel, of funding and training groups and individuals to carry out operations, according to the book "Rise and Kill First" by Israeli author Ronen Bergman.
Colonel Ronen Cohen, the former head of counterterrorism at the Directorate of Military Intelligence, compiled a list of individuals called the "Twelve Musketeers," which included members of Unit 1800 in Hezbollah, along with names from Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
The first target inside Lebanon was Ramzi Nahra, a former Israeli agent who joined the party after the withdrawal in 2000. He was assassinated with an explosive device planted on the side of the Ebel El Saqi road on January 6, 2002.
A few months later, on August 2, 2003, Ali Salah, a member of Unit 1800, was assassinated with a car bomb in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Less than a year later, on July 12, 2004, Ghaleb Awali, who, according to the Israeli narrative, took over the tasks of Ali Salah, was also assassinated in a bombing in the southern suburbs.
The 2006 war began, and according to the book, Israeli intelligence tried to compensate for the field failure by monitoring individuals for assassination to "promote" victory to Israelis, specifically Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
According to Dan Halutz, Israeli chief of staff during the 2006 war, "We tried, but in vain. Three times, we obtained specific intelligence about Nasrallah's whereabouts. One time, a building was bombed shortly after he left. The bombs hit his location twice, but they failed to penetrate the thick layers of reinforced concrete above the bunkers underground."
Israel also attempted to assassinate other figures during the war, such as leader Hassan al-Laqqis, who, according to the book, was tracked with his phone on July 20 in one of the buildings targeted in Chiyah. However, he had left, and his son was martyred in the strike.
The war ended, and the series of assassinations failed this time.
However, two years later, on February 12, 2008, Israel succeeded in assassinating commander Imad Mughniyeh, but outside Lebanon in Damascus, after what the book claims was a postponement of the operation due to being monitored along with Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force.
But, the US instructions to the Israelis were clear: only Mughniyeh - we do not want to get into a regional war.
As for Hassan al-Laqqis, who survived in 2006, he was assassinated in Beirut's southern suburbs by gunfire on December 4, 2013. Israel denied its involvement, but the facts prove otherwise.
Afterward, with the involvement of Hezbollah's military wing in Syria, a new series of assassinations began.
In 2015, Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, was assassinated in a strike in Quneitra in an attempt, according to Israel, to prevent Hezbollah from establishing bases on the Golan.
In 2015, Samir Kuntar was also assassinated in an Israeli strike near Damascus, and in 2016, in Syria as well, Mustafa Badreddine was assassinated, a "mystery" that continues to this day, between the responsibility of Israel, the Syrian opposition, terrorist groups, or even internal settling of scores.
In 2023, assassinations returned to the forefront with painful Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah leaders, from the Beit Yahoun airstrike that targeted a Radwan Force to the Kherbet Selem roadside bomb that targeted commander Wissam al-Tawil.