Thousands attend funeral of Tabatabai killed in Israeli raid

Thousands of people on Monday attended the funeral organised by Hizbollah group for its top military commander, a day after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut.

Haytham Ali Tabatabai is the most senior Hizbollah commander to be killed by Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end more than a year of hostilities between the two sides. His assassination comes as Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon, with the United States increasing pressure on the Beirut government to disarm the Iran-backed Hizbollah.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, a densely populated area where Hizbollah holds sway, hundreds of supporters joined Monday’s funeral procession for Tabatabai and two of his companions. “We will not leave our weapons, we will not leave our land!” the mourners chanted. Top Hizbollah political officials attended the funeral in person but it was unclear if any military officials were present.

Hizbollah supporters walked by Tabatabai’s coffin, draped in the group’s yellow flag, as it was carried through the crowd. The burial of Tabatabai and two other Hizbollah members took place in a cemetery south of Beirut where the group’s fighters are traditionally laid to rest.

The crowd yelled slogans against Israel and America, while supporters carried portraits of the group’s leaders and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Senior Hizbollah official Ali Damush told the funeral that Tabatabai’s killing aimed “to frighten and weaken (Hizbollah) into retreating... surrendering, and submitting, but this goal will never be achieved.”

Israel was “worried about Hizbollah’s possible response — and should remain worried”, he said, urging Lebanese authorities to “confront the aggression by all means... and reject the pressures that seek to push Lebanon to comply with American dictates and Israeli conditions.”

Condemning the attack, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that “the only way to consolidate stability” was through “extending the authority of the state over all its territory with its own forces, and enabling the Lebanese army to carry out its duties.”

Hizbollah said Tabatabai assumed the role of military leader after the most recent war with Israel, which saw the group heavily weakened and senior commanders killed.

Israel has carried out near daily strikes on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to prevent the group from rearming.

Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon’s capital for the first time since June, saying it killed Tabatabai. The Israeli military described him as Hizbollah’s chief of staff. Israel also warned the group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Sunday’s strike killed five people and wounded 28 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

“Let them (Israelis) continue their raids on us. They want us to surrender so they can enter our homes? Did you see what happened in Gaza? What did they do? They did nothing,” said a Hizbollah supporter who identified himself as Jaafar.

Another Hizbollah supporter, Fatima Shehadeh, said that “no matter how much blood is shed, we will never surrender, and we will never hand over the weapons of the resistance.”

France’s Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed “deep concern” over the strike and potential escalation, calling on parties to go through the ceasefire monitoring mechanism to report threats and not take “unilateral actions.”

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 strength. 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.

Malek Ayoub, a retired military analyst, told Hezbollah’s Al Manar television station on Monday that Israel could be using facial recognition technology to identify Hezbollah figures from the station’s coverage of Tabatabai’s funeral.

Agencies