Israel killed Hizbollah’s top military official in an air strike on a southern suburb of Beirut yesterday, the Israeli military said, despite a US-brokered truce a year ago.
The strike, the first on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital in months, targeted Iran-backed Hizbollah’s acting chief of staff, Ali Tabtabai, the military said in a statement.
There was no immediate confirmation of his killing from Hizbollah, although senior Hizbollah official Mahmoud Qmati confirmed a central figure from the group had been targeted.
Speaking near the bombed-out building in the Haret Hreik suburb, he said Israel’s strike crossed a ‘red line’. Qmati said Hizbollah’s leadership would decide on whether and how the group would respond.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed five people and wounded 28 more. It hit a multi-storey building, sending debris crashing into cars on the main road below.
People rushed out of their apartment buildings, fearing further bombardment, a Reuters reporter said.
The United States imposed sanctions on Tabtabai in 2016, identifying him as a key Hizbollah leader and offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on him.
The Israeli military statement said Tabtabai ‘commanded most of Hizbollah’s units and worked hard to restore them to readiness for war with Israel’.
In a short televised statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not allow Hizbollah to rebuild its forces and that he expected the Lebanese government ‘to fulfil its obligation to disarm Hizbollah’.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the international community to intervene to halt Israeli attacks.
The strike came a week before Pope Leo is set to land in Lebanon on his first foreign trip, with many Lebanese hoping the visit could signal the country was heading towards better days.
The November 2024 ceasefire was meant to end a year of fighting between Hizbollah and the Israeli military, triggered by Hizbollah’s rocket fire on Israeli posts a day after the October 7, 2023 attack by its Palestinian ally Hamas.
But Israel has kept up near-daily strikes on Lebanon since the truce, targeting what it says are arms depots.
&uuid=(email))