Hezbollah has confirmed that its top military commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai has been killed in an Israeli air strike on Lebanon’s capital.
Tabatabai, the chief of staff of the group’s armed wing, was among at least five people killed in the attack on an apartment block in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh in southern Beirut on Sunday.
In a statement, Hezbollah said “the great commander” Tabatabai was killed in “a treacherous Israeli attack on the Haret Hreik area in the southern suburbs of Beirut”, without specifying his position within the group.
Tabatabai is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the start of a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending over a year of hostilities between the two.
The Israeli military said it “eliminated” Tabatabai in the strike, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office earlier said he was the target of the attack. Israeli media said it was the military’s third attempt to kill him since last year’s war.
Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati had earlier said that Israel’s strike crossed a “red line” and that the group’s leadership was considering whether it would respond.
“The strike on the southern suburbs today opens the door to an escalation of assaults all over Lebanon,” he said.
Tabatabai was born in 1968 in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and an Iranian father. He grew up in southern Lebanon and joined Hezbollah at the age of 12.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said the Israeli attack also wounded 28 people.