In escalation, IDF kills Hezbollah navy chief in focused Beirut strike

[ad_1] Israel mentioned on Sunday it had killed Hezbollah’s navy chief of workers, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, in a focused airstrike within the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. The phobia group later confirmed his demise in an announcement.

Tabatabai was thought of second solely to Secretary-Common Naim Qassem, within the Iran-backed terror group’s command construction.

The IDF confirmed Tabatabai was killed. Later, the phobia group additionally confirmed his demise, eulogizing him as a “nice Jihadi commander.” It mentioned Tabatabai “devoted his life to the resistance” and “was among the many leaders who laid the inspiration” for it.

Hezbollah additionally named 4 different operatives killed within the strike, and one of many group’s officers, Mahmud Qomati, informed reporters on the affect web site that the assault “crosses a brand new crimson line.”

An AFP correspondent on the scene mentioned the strike hit the third and fourth flooring of a nine-story constructing. Lebanon’s state NNA outlet reported three missiles have been fired on the constructing within the Haret Hreik space — a Hezbollah stronghold — damaging autos and different close by buildings.

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By signing up, you comply with the terms The 4 different Hezbollah operatives killed, along with Tabatabai, have been named as Ibrahim Ali Hussein, Rifaat Ahmed Hussein, Mustafa Asaad Barrou and Qassem Hussein Barjawi.

Lebanon’s well being ministry mentioned the strike additionally wounded 28 folks. The IDF issued footage of the strike.

An Israeli airstrike focusing on Hezbollah’s de facto navy chief Haytham Ali Tabatabai in Beirut, November 23, 2025. (Israel Protection Forces) The Israeli military mentioned Tabatabai was a “veteran and central operative within the terror group,” after becoming a member of its ranks within the Eighties and holding a number of senior roles, together with the commander of the elite Radwan Pressure and head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria.

Throughout the warfare, the IDF mentioned, Tabatabai was appointed to go Hezbollah’s operations division, chargeable for “consolidating the group’s situational image and pressure buildup.”

In late 2024, after most of Hezbollah’s management was killed, he “successfully served because the official chargeable for managing the combating in opposition to Israel,” the IDF mentioned.

After the top of the combating between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024, he was formally appointed because the navy chief of workers within the terror group. “On this position, he led the group’s reconstruction,” the navy mentioned.

Lebanese Pink Cross volunteers work on the web site the place an residence constructing was hit throughout an Israeli airstrike within the southern suburb of Beirut, on November 23, 2025. (AP Picture/Bilal Hussein) Israel has been escalating its strikes on Hezbollah in current weeks, accusing the phobia group of violating the year-old ceasefire and more and more trying to rebuild its capabilities, and expressing frustration at lagging Lebanese efforts to disarm the group.

The strike got here nearly precisely a 12 months after the US-brokered truce in Lebanon took impact on November 27, 2024.

Tabatabai’s assassination got here in response to “Hezbollah’s repeated violations of UN Safety Council Decision 1701 and the 2024 ceasefire understandings, in addition to the menace he posed to Israel and to regional stability,” the Overseas Ministry mentioned after the strike.

The Lebanese authorities has failed to deal with Hezbollah’s violations, mentioned Israel, whereas Hezbollah is working to “restore and broaden” its navy capabilities.

The Overseas Ministry maintained Israel “is dedicated to the complete implementation of the ceasefire understandings and has reported lots of of violations by way of the worldwide mechanism led by the USA.”

‘Israel won't let Hezbollah rebuild its power’ The Prime Minister’s Workplace introduced shortly after the assault that “the IDF struck, within the coronary heart of Beirut, the Hezbollah chief of workers who led the group’s navy buildup and armament efforts.”

“Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu ordered the strike on the advice of the protection minister and the IDF chief of workers,” it mentioned.

In a video assertion issued just a few hours later, Netanyahu referred to as Tabatabai “a mass assassin” with the blood of many Israelis and People on his arms, and vowed: “Israel won't let Hezbollah rebuild its power.”

The premier mentioned that he “expects the Lebanese authorities to meet its dedication to disarm Hezbollah.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks on the weekly cupboard assembly in Jerusalem, November 16, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO) Protection Minister Israel Katz additionally vowed that Israel will proceed to take motion in opposition to those that threaten it.

“Whoever raises a hand in opposition to Israel — that hand shall be minimize off,” Katz mentioned, including that he won't enable Israel to return to the state of affairs that existed previous to October 7, 2023, with Hezbollah a continuing looming menace on Israel’s northern border.

‘Cease the assaults on Lebanon’ Lebanese President Joseph Aoun referred to as on the worldwide group to intervene firmly to cease Israeli assaults on the nation.

In an announcement, Aoun mentioned Lebanon “reiterates its name to the worldwide group to imagine its accountability and intervene firmly and critically to cease the assaults on Lebanon and its folks.”

Lebanon President Joseph Aoun addresses the eightieth session of the United Nations Common Meeting, September 23, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP Picture/Pamela Smith) Senior US official: ‘Mazal tov, mabruk’ Washington, nonetheless, was “happy” with the strike, a senior American official informed Channel 12.

“We're happy with the elimination of the quantity two in Hezbollah,” the official mentioned, earlier than slipping into Hebrew and Arabic: “We expect it’s a beautiful factor. Yalla, mazal tov, mabruk.”

Channel 12 reported that the US had identified for a number of days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, however was not alerted upfront in regards to the particular strike on Tabatabai.

The final IDF strikes on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, happened in July. These assaults focused Hezbollah infrastructure, they usually got here after evacuation warnings.

Chief of pressure tasked with invading Israel Tabatabai, born in 1968 in Beirut, was the son of a south Lebanese mom and an Iranian father. He was raised in southern Lebanon and joined the phobia group in his youth.

He had been wished by the USA since 2016, with a $5 million bounty for info on him.

Tabatabai beforehand commanded Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Pressure, which was tasked with preparations to invade Israel. Israeli officers say Hezbollah had lengthy deliberate an October 7-style terror assault on northern Israel border communities.

Supporters of the Hezbollah terror group wave Hezbollah and Palestinian flags as they attend a ceremony marking the primary anniversary of Israel’s assassination of their longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, 2025. (Anwar AMRO / AFP) In line with the US Division of State, he additionally commanded Hezbollah’s particular forces in Syria and Yemen.

In 2015, Israel tried to assassinate Tabatabai in southern Syria, in a strike that killed Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah commander killed in Damascus in 2008.

Tabatabai was promoted in late 2024, after the IDF eradicated most of Hezbollah’s high management. Former chief of workers Fuad Shukr was killed in a strike on Beirut in July 2024. His substitute was swiftly killed as properly.

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