The Israeli military carried out an airstrike in Beirut on Sunday in an attempt to assassinate senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai, according to Israeli officials.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike hit “the heart of Beirut,” targeting Hezbollah’s chief of staff, who has been overseeing the group’s military expansion and rearmament. Tabatabai is widely considered the organisation’s second-in-command after Secretary General Naim Qassem, the Times of Israel reported.
Hezbollah acknowledged that a top figure had been targeted but did not confirm the identity. A Hezbollah official, Mahmoud Qamati, told AP the strike was clearly aimed at a “key figure in the resistance,” adding that the attack “crosses a new red line.” The outcome of the strike, he said, remained unclear.
“Hezbollah’s leadership is studying the matter of response and will take the appropriate decision,” Qamati said at the site of the attack. “The strike on the southern suburbs today opens the door to an escalation of assaults all over Lebanon.”
Who is Haytham Ali Tabatabai?
Tabatabai is Hezbollah’s de facto chief of staff and one of the organisation’s most senior military strategists.
As per a report by Times of Israel, Tabatabai, born in 1968 in Beirut to a south Lebanese mother and an Iranian father, grew up in southern Lebanon and joined Hezbollah at a young age. The United States has listed him as a wanted terrorist since 2016, announcing a $5 million reward for information on him.
Tabatabai once led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, which was tasked with planning cross-border attacks on Israel, and he also oversaw the group’s special forces operations in Syria and Yemen, according to the US State Department.
Israel previously attempted to assassinate him in 2015 in southern Syria, in a strike that killed Jihad Mughniyeh, son of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh. He rose further in Hezbollah’s hierarchy in late 2024 after much of the group’s top leadership was eliminated by the IDF.
He is believed to play a key role in the group’s cross-border operations, logistics networks and coordination with Iran-backed militias. His position makes him one of the highest-ranking figures in Hezbollah’s hierarchy after Naim Qassem.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, five people were killed and at least 25 injured. The explosion tore a large hole in a residential building and scattered debris across a crowded neighbourhood in southern Beirut.
Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Ammar told AP the location was a civilian area with “no military presence whatsoever.”
“This is definitely a civilian area and void of any military presence, especially the neighborhood where we stand,” Ammar said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the operation as a precise strike on a “key” Hezbollah militant. It was the first Israeli strike inside Beirut since June 5, when Israel targeted what it described as a Hezbollah drone facility.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel also struck the border town of Aita al-Shaab, killing one person, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Hezbollah weakened
The escalation comes as Israel continues near-daily strikes in Lebanon after the November 2024 ceasefire that ended more than a year of intense hostilities with Hezbollah, which joined the conflict in support of Hamas in Gaza in 2023.
Netanyahu said Israel would take “everything necessary” to stop Hezbollah from regrouping, while Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that “anyone who raises a hand against Israel — his hand will be cut off.”
