Israel targets top Hizbollah commander in Beirut strike

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Israel targeted a senior Hizbollah military commander in an air strike on Beirut on Sunday, putting further strain on a yearlong ceasefire between the two sides.

The Israeli military said the strike on an apartment block in the Lebanese capital’s southern Dahieh district was aimed at Haytham Ali Tabatabai, whom it described as the Iran-backed militant group’s chief of staff.

Israel claimed that Tabatabai was killed in the attack, although Hizbollah did not provide an official confirmation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Tabatabai was responsible for the “strengthening and arming” of Hizbollah, adding that “Israel is determined to act to achieve its goals anywhere and at any time”. The Lebanese health ministry stated that five people had been killed and 28 injured in the strike, but gave no further details.

The Israeli strike is the first on the Lebanese capital since June, and the fifth since a US-backed ceasefire came into effect in November 2024, halting the worst of the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah. It also came days before Pope Leo XIV was due to visit the capital.

Israel has intensified operations in Lebanon in recent weeks, conducting deadly air raids throughout the country in what it claims is an effort to prevent Hizbollah from rebuilding its military assets.

Video footage from the scene showed damage to at least two floors of the apartment block and surrounding area in a densely packed residential neighbourhood where Hizbollah holds sway.

While Israel has given warnings and evacuation orders before some of its air strikes, it has not done so in instances where it has aimed to assassinate senior operatives in the militant group.

There was no immediate comment from Hizbollah on the strike, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said it was “further proof that [Israel] disregards repeated calls to cease its attacks”, as well as all initiatives “aimed at ending the escalation”.

Hizbollah began firing into northern Israel after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack from Gaza, in what it said was “solidarity” with the Palestinian militant group.

Tit-for-tat cross-border strikes subsequently escalated into a full-blown war, with Israel launching a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and eliminating much of Hizbollah’s senior leadership, including its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, Hizbollah agreed to move its weapons out of southern Lebanon and eventually disarm entirely, while Israeli troops were to withdraw completely from the region with the Lebanese Armed Forces moving in.

Each side has accused the other of failing to implement the deal in full. Washington has also raised the pressure on Beirut to accelerate Hizbollah’s disarmament.

Israeli troops have remained in at least five “strategic” border positions inside southern Lebanon, arguing it was part of the deal. It has also continued to strike Lebanon on a near-daily basis, killing more than 300 people since the ceasefire — including Hizbollah operatives and at least 100 civilians, according to the UN.

Hizbollah has resisted disarming north of the Litani river, saying it will not do so before Israeli troops leave Lebanon and cease attacks on the country.