Israel’s security echelon and many rank-and-file citizens are bracing for what many believe is the inevitable retaliation by the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization following the assassination of the infamous Samir Kuntar. Although Hizbullah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed revenge in a speech delivered on Monday night, no one really needed to hear it from him in order to expect a response. Kuntar was responsible for one of the most shocking terrorist attacks in Israeli history when, in 1979, he came ashore with compatriots and took an Israeli man and his young daughter hostage while the man’s wife and younger child hid inside their house. Ultimately, the father was shot to death, their older child’s head bashed in and the mother accidentally smothered the other child. Despite vows by successive generations of Israeli political leaders that he would never see the light of day, Kuntar was set free in a 2008 prisoner swap Israel participated in to obtain the bodies of two kidnapped soldiers. Since his release, Kuntar was stationed by Hizbullah on the Golan Heights where he coordinated terror attacks and dealt with the recruitment of Druze fighters. In his televised address following Kuntar’s funeral, Nasrallah vowed revenge.
Lebanese supporters of Shiite Hezbollah movement gather in the southern town of Nabatiyeh on May 24, 2015, to watch a televised address by Hassan Nasrallah (portrait). (Photo: MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images)