Israeli attack in Beirut. Hezbollah commander killed
In a Sunday attack on a southern district of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, Hezbollah’s Chief of Staff, Haitham Ali Tabatabai, was killed, the Israeli military reported. The Lebanese Shiite organization confirmed the death of its commander.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health announced that at least five people were killed in the strike.
In a statement, the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, emphasized that Tabatabai was a key figure within Hezbollah and that the attack was intended to prevent the Shiite organization from strengthening its capabilities. He added that it “was directed against all those who seek to harm Israel.”
Videos circulating online show a residential building destroyed by an Israeli missile, with debris scattered across the street. Israeli authorities issued no prior warning before the strike.
According to the newspaperL’Orient-Le Jour, the attack serves as a warning to Hezbollah’s most radical members, among whom Tabatabai was counted.
Tabatabai had been wanted by the United States, which had offered a $5 million reward for information about him. He was the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Al-Radwan unit and, according to the U.S. Department of State, oversaw the group’s operations in Iraq and Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday morning, prior to the attack, that Israel would continue its fight against “terrorism” on multiple fronts. “We will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Hezbollah from regaining the capability to threaten us,” he declared.
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The Prime Minister later confirmed the strike, stressing that its target was “the chief of staff who directed the organization’s armament efforts and the expansion of its military forces.”
In November, Israel intensified its airstrikes on southern Lebanon, conducting an almost daily campaign that it claims is aimed at preventing Hezbollah’s military resurgence in the border zone.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of attempting to rearm following the U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed last year. The organization maintains that it has complied with the terms requiring the withdrawal of its forces from the border region near Israel and the deployment of the Lebanese Army there.
Until now, however, Israel had refrained from striking Lebanon’s capital. The last Israeli shelling of Beirut occurred in July, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. That attack was preceded by an evacuation warning,The Times of Israel recalled.
