Hezbollah Military Media / EPA
The chief of staff of Hezbollah, Haytham Ali Tabatabai
This Sunday, Israel killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff in an air attack on a residential building on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital, in an operation that resulted in five deaths.
Hezbolla confirmed this Sunday the death of its leader Tyy at Talma in an attack by Israel, but did not specify his position within the group.
Considered the chief of staff of the Shiite terrorist organization based in Lebanon, Tabtabai is the commander of highest rank of Hezbollah to be killed by Israel since the start of the ceasefire in November 2024, which aimed to end more than a year of hostilities between the two countries.
Israel recently intensified its attacks to Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon, claiming to target the Shia movementwhich it accuses of violating the ceasefire by rearming and reactivating its infrastructure.
Lebanese authorities, for their part, accuse Israel of violate the agreement ceasefire reached under the mediation of the United States, while continuing to attack its territory and occupy five strategic points in the south of the country.
In a statement released shortly after the attack, the Israeli army said it had “eliminated the terrorist Haitham Ali Tabatabaichief of staff of Hezbollah.” The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that the attack left five dead and 28 injured.
According to the AFP Agency, the offensive took place in the Haret Hreikin the southern suburbs of Beirut, a densely populated area under Hezbollah control.
The attack was the fifth against this Hezbollah stronghold in the Lebanese capital since the ceasefire agreed between Israel and the Islamist movement in November 2024, and occurred a week before the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Lebanon.
The Israeli army ensured that remains “committed” to the ceasefire. In front of the affected building, the leader of Hezbollah, Mahmoud Qomatideclared that the attack “crosses a new red line”.
The bombing reached the third and fourth floors of a nine-story building, where ambulances and rescue teams rushed.
The Lebanese president, Joseph Aouncalled on the international community to “intervene seriously and firmly to put an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office, Benjamin Netanyahuannounced that Israel had launched “an attack in the heart of Beirut against the Hezbollah chief of staff, who led the strengthening and arming the terrorist organization”.
Hours earlier, he had warned that Israel would “everything that was needed” to prevent the strengthening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “We continue to fight terrorism on multiple fronts”, he declared at a government meeting.
Israel argues that its attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire aim to maintain the terms of the agreement, preventing Hezbollah from reorganizing.
