Israel killed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s top military official in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday, the military said, marking a major escalation despite a year-old US-brokered truce between the sides.
The strike, the first on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital in months, targeted Ali Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s acting chief of staff and one of its most senior commanders, the military said.
Hezbollah confirmed Tabtabai’s death, mourning him as “the great jihadist commander” who had “worked to confront the Israeli enemy until the last moment of his blessed life,” while giving no details on his exact duties.
Mahmoud Qmati, a senior Hezbollah official, said the attack crossed a “red line,” adding that Iran-backed group’s leadership would decide how to respond.
The United States sanctioned Tabtabai in 2016, identifying him as a key Hezbollah figure and offering up to $5 million for information on him.
Israel said he “commanded most of Hezbollah’s units and worked hard to restore them to readiness for war with Israel.”
In a televised statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its forces and expected the Lebanese government “to fulfill its obligation to disarm Hezbollah.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the international community to intervene to stop Israeli attacks.
Israel has already eliminated much of Hezbollah’s senior leadership du
Both sides have traded accusations of ceasefire violations since 2024.
Founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah has grown into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force. It has fought multiple wars with Israel and is a key member of Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” alliance.
The group, which fought a nearly twenty-year insurgency which ultimately ejected Israel from occupied South Lebanon in 2000, is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and several Western countries.
