Hizbollah confirms Israeli strike killed senior leader Tabatabai

Hizbollah confirmed that senior leader Haytham Ali Tabtabai was killed in Israel's strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday.

In a statement, the group confirmed the killing of "the great commander" Tabtabai in "a treacherous Israeli attack on the Haret Hreik area in the southern suburbs of Beirut", without specifying his position within the group.

Tabtabai is the most senior Hizbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the start of a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending over a year of hostilities between the two.

Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon’s capital for the first time since June, saying it killed Hizbollah’s chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai and warning the Iran-backed group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war.

Army soldiers stop people from entering the site where an Israeli strike hit at an apartment building on Dahiyeh in the southern suburb of Beirut, on Sunday. AP

The strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed five people and wounded 25 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Hizbollah confirmed Tabtabai's death. Earlier it said the strike, launched almost exactly a year after a ceasefire in the Israel-Hizbollah war, threatened an escalation of attacks - just days before Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Lebanon on his first foreign trip.

"We will continue to act forcefully to prevent any threat to the residents of the north and the state of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. The military instructed residents in northern Israel near the Lebanese border to continue with daily routines, indicating that it did not anticipate a military response from Hizbollah.

This undated photo, released by Hizbollah Military Media on Sunday shows Hizbollah's chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai. AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Tabtabai of leading Hizbollah's efforts to rearm.

Israeli airstrikes over southern Lebanon have intensified in recent weeks while Israel and the United States have pressured Lebanon to disarm Hizbollah. Israel asserts that the group is trying to rebuild its military capabilities. The Lebanese government, which supports disarming Hizbollah, has denied those claims. It also says troops have deployed to the south but that its cash-strapped army needs more resources.

Hizbollah has not attacked Israel since the ceasefire began. In December, it fired a couple of rockets that landed on open territory near an Israeli military base and called it a "warning.”

Agencies