The precise objective of the operation is unknown. "The Jerusalem Post" suggested at the time of the raid that the IDF may have believed that the two kidnapped soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, were being held in bunkers below the hospital but that the raid "appeared to have been about collecting intelligence". Lebanese sources claimed that the target of the raid was Mohammad Yazbek, a well-known Hezbollah leader living in the area who had been accused by Israel of involvement in the capture of IDF Colonel (res.) Elhanan Tannenbaum in 2000. Yazbek however escaped unhurt. A spokesman for the IDF denied that the operation had a "specific target". Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz claimed that "the main goal" was to deliver a message to Hizbullah that the IDF "can operate deep inside Lebanon and wherever else we want to." According to Ami Pedahzur, Professor of Government and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, the raid was an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Hezbollah activists for "bargaining" purposes.