The Lebanese movement Hezbollah confirmed tonight the death of its military commander Haitham Ali Tabatabai (56) in today's announced Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, where several other people were killed.
Hezbollah said that "great leader" Tabatabai was killed in an "Israeli aggression" on the suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, but did not specify his position.
Israel called him a "terrorist," "chief of staff" and "supreme commander" of Hezbollah, describing him as a "key operative and veteran" of the pro-Iranian movement, important in Lebanon.
He is the highest-ranking Hezbollah official killed by Israel since the end of the war with Hezbollah nearly a year ago.
Haitham Ali Tabatabaei was on the US list of persons associated with terrorism and, according to Washington, was the head of Hezbollah operations in Syria and Yemen before being promoted after a year-long conflict with Israel during which the Israeli military decimated the pro-Iranian group, and a ceasefire was reached in November 2024.
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