By Anat Peled and Summer Said
The Israeli military said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut, as it pushes to keep the battered militant group from rebuilding following a cease-fire the two sides reached last year.
The Israeli military said Sunday's strike killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai, one of Hezbollah's top three leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had approved the strike, describing the militant leader as Hezbollah's chief of staff who was leading the group's rearmament after last year's conflict.
Five people were killed and 28 others injured in the attack, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday night that Tabatabai had been killed by Israel in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Tabatabai, a key driver of recruitment of fighters for Hezbollah, has faced several previous attempts on his life, according to Arab officials. He previously commanded Hezbollah's special forces in Yemen and Syria, according to the U.S. State Department. The U.S. had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on him.
The latest strike adds more strain on an increasingly shaky cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, as Israel continues to strike the military group on a daily in recent weeks in response to what it says are Hezbollah's efforts to rebuild its armaments and battered ranks.
Hezbollah's attempt to rebuild defies the terms of last year's cease-fire agreement and raises the prospect of renewed conflict with Israel, after last November's truce ended a two-month-long Israeli campaign that killed much of Hezbollah's leadership. Under its terms, Israel was supposed to end its strikes and withdraw its troops from Lebanon in exchange for the dismantling of Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and the group's eventual disarmament.
Israel has provided intelligence to help the Lebanese army disarm Hezbollah in Lebanon's south. But the effort stalled as it moved on to the broader disarmament of the group. Hezbollah has been rebuilding its armaments and battered ranks since then, according to people familiar with Israeli and Arab intelligence. Israel and the U.S. have expressed increasing frustration with its failure to disarm.
"The State of Israel will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power, and we will not allow it to pose a threat to the State of Israel again," Netanyahu said Sunday.
Israel has maintained troops in a handful of strategic locations in southern Lebanon. Its drones frequently fly over Beirut, and it has struck Lebanon more than 1,000 times since the 2024 cease-fire. It also has begun the construction of a wall that encroaches on Lebanese territory, according to Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping force.
Israel also has been striking Gaza in response to what it says are Hamas violations of the U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect in October. The Israeli military struck Gaza on Saturday in response to alleged shooting toward its troops and said it killed a Hamas commander. The strikes killed some 20 people in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who didn't say how many were combatants.
Write to Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2025 14:45 ET (19:45 GMT)
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