Israel’s clever strategy in strike on Hezbollah leader

The Israel Defense Forces targeted a senior Lebanese Hezbollah leader in Beirut on Tuesday. Israel says that the missile strike constitutes retaliation for a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 Israeli children on Saturday.

The Israeli action appears clever in its strategic calculation. I say that for two reasons.

First, it’s because the strike seems to have balanced effective deterrence alongside the mitigation of civilian casualties. On the deterrent side of the equation, Israel targeted Hezbollah military operations commander Fuad Shukr inside the terrorist group/political party’s Beirut stronghold. Considering that Shukr appears to have been in an apartment building at the time, it is probable he was killed (Israel would not risk a politically sensitive strike in Beirut that endangered civilians absent high confidence it could get its target).