Two weeks ago, Israel Defense Force Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot took the unusual step of confirming claims in the media about the May 13, 2016, killing of Hezbollah military commander, Mustafa Badreddine. A video report last month on the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network had claimed that Badreddine’s killing was not the work of Israel or of Syrian rebel factions. Rather, the report contended, the former Hezbollah commander was shot after a meeting with Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani—executed on the orders of Soleimani and Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

A week later, a second report in the German daily Die Welt cited and reiterated Al-Arabiya’s claim and most of its details. “These reports,” Eisenkot said, “corresponded with the information we have and with our assessment.” What this showed, Eisenkot continued, was “the extent of the cruelty, complexity, and tension between Hezbollah and its patron Iran.”