The Israeli Defense Forces announced on Sunday that an airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs had successfully eliminated Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah's chief of general staff, in a targeted operation against the group's rearmament efforts, marking the first such assault on the Lebanese capital in five months and intensifying strains on the November 2024 ceasefire.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported five fatalities and 28 injuries from the precision strike on a nine-storey apartment building in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood, a Hezbollah stronghold, where three missiles reportedly reduced the third and fourth floors to rubble, scattering debris across streets lined with charred vehicles and prompting frantic rescue operations by civil defence teams and Lebanese soldiers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally authorised the attack, stating that the IDF had struck at the "heart of Beirut" to neutralise Tabatabai, a 58-year-old veteran who joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and survived a prior assassination attempt in 2015, underscoring Israel's determination to prevent the Iran-backed militia from rebuilding its military capabilities post-conflict.
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Hezbollah confirmed Tabatabai's death as a "treacherous" martyrdom, with senior official Mahmud Qomati decrying the strike as crossing a critical red line and opening the door to broader escalation, though the group refrained from immediate retaliation details amid its weakened state following over a year of cross-border warfare that began in support of Hamas.
As Lebanese President Joseph Aoun appealed to the international community for decisive intervention to halt Israeli incursions, Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, vowed unrelenting enforcement of the truce terms, warning that any threats would be met with overwhelming response while reaffirming commitment to the ceasefire amid preparations for Pope Leo XIV's upcoming visit to Lebanon.
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