Hezbollah’s highest-ranking military official was among the five killed in Israel’s attack on the Haret Hreik area in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including the area’s Haret Hreik neighborhood.
The attack on Sunday, which occurred in Beirut’s southern suburbs as a result of an increase in Israeli attacks across Lebanon, was the first without warning since the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah last year.
Among those who were targeted and killed was Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Sayyid Abu Ali. According to Israeli media, this was his third attempt at life, and it was reportedly during the previous year’s conflict with Israel, which resulted in a US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024.
Experts from the UN have since claimed that Israel has almost daily violated that ceasefire. Israel’s continued attacks have been met with one response in December, according to Hezbollah.
Haytham Ali Tabatabai, who was he?
Tabatabai’s name was not widely known in Lebanon prior to the attack. The military operatives of Hezbollah frequently work in the background to prevent Israeli assassinations.
However, it has been revealed that Tabatabai held numerous senior positions within the armed political group during his time in office since his death on Sunday.
Although his father reportedly had Iranian roots, he was born in Bashoura, a Beirut neighborhood, in 1968. He reportedly joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was raised in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah claimed Tabatabai had been a part of the organization since it was founded in 1982 as a resistance movement against Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah became Lebanon’s most powerful political party and military force after the war, having served in the country’s parliament and had ministers in various governments.
Tabatabai had a lot of military experience, and she served in Hezbollah as a senior military official. He reportedly participated in a number of field operations in the southern Lebanon of Israel from 1996 to 2000, leading the organization’s Nabatieh axis, or command area.
Hezbollah claims Tabatabai then oversaw the Khiam axis from 2000 until 2008, and he was in charge during the conflict in July 2006, when Israel and Hezbollah met in a draw after 34 days. Tabatabai also allegedly aided in the formation of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
He later assumed control of Hezbollah’s operations along the Syrian-Syrian border and assumed control of the operations branch during Israel’s conflict last year.
Before taking over as head of Hezbollah’s southern front Ali Karaki, who was killed last year’s war, reportedly led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in Syria and Yemen, according to Israeli media reports.
Following the war, when Israel killed the majority of Hezbollah’s senior military leaders, he was appointed as its chief of staff.
According to Sohaib Jawhar, a nonresident fellow at the Beirut-based Badil, the Alternative Policy Institute, “Tabatabai was the one who reorganized Hezbollah’s military leadership,” the targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut shows that the Lebanese state has no guarantees against the expansion of such attacks.”
What was Hezbollah’s response to his death?
Hezbollah described Israel’s assassination as a “treacherous attack on the Haret Hreik area in the suburbs of Beirut” and confirmed the death of “the great martyr jihadist commander” known as Sayyid Abu Ali in a statement.
The group’s political council vice president, Mahmoud Qmati, lamented “yet another ceasefire violation” and claimed Israel had “with the permission of the United States” escalated the conflict.
A compilation video of Tabatabai’s fieldwork operations was released by Hezbollah.
Qassem Hussein Berjawi, Rifaat Ahmad Hussein, Mostafa Asaad Berro, and Ibrahim Ali Hussein’s deaths were also confirmed by the report.
Ali Ammar, a member of the Hezbollah, claimed that Israel had once more broken the ceasefire.
According to him, “every attack on Lebanon crosses a red line, and this aggression is ingrained in the person who violates Lebanon’s dignity, sovereignty, and citizens’ security.”
What has the state of Lebanon said?
Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon, made the announcement just two days before the attack that the international community would support the government’s plans to engage in peace negotiations with Israel.
Aoun demanded that the international community step in after the Sunday attack in order to stop Israeli attacks on his nation.
Some residents of Lebanon are beginning to feel frustrated because they believe the government is not adequately prepared or willing to deal with Israel’s repeated aggressions. The Lebanese government has been unable to stop repeated Israeli attacks or rebuild destroyed homes, which has caused many residents in southern Lebanon to feel abandoned.
What has Israel said?
Israel continued to “remain committed to the agreements reached between the State of Israel and Lebanon,” most likely referring to the current ceasefire, following Sunday’s strike.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the strike had been ordered following recommendations from the chief of staff of the Israeli army and the defense minister. He cited Tabatabai as a potential threat to Israeli security as justification.
In a statement, the Israeli army said that “Tabatabai commanded the majority of Hezbollah’s units and worked diligently to re-establish their readiness for war with Israel.” The Israeli military will retaliate against Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild and rearrange it and use force to oust any threat from Israel.
Was the US already aware of the attack?
US officials were aware of an “escalation” being anticipated but were unable to be given more information about this specific strike, according to the US news website Axios. Direct after the strike, an official told Axios that the US government had been informed.
What’s going on now?
Qmati claimed that the leadership of the organization would now consider whether a response was necessary given that Israel’s strike had crossed a “red line.”
