Israel claimed to have killed Hezbollah’s top military official in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday, despite a US-brokered truce a year ago.
The strike, the first on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital in months, targeted Hezbollah’s acting chief of staff, Ali Tabtabai, the military claimed in a statement.
There was no immediate confirmation of his killing from Hezbollah, although senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati confirmed a central figure from the group had been targeted.
Speaking near the bombed-out building in the Haret Hreik suburb, he said Israel’s strike crossed a “red line”. Qmati said Hezbollah’s leadership would decide on whether and how the group would respond.
The United States imposed sanctions on Tabtabai in 2016, identifying him as a key Hezbollah leader and offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on him.
The Israeli military statement claimed Tabtabai “commanded most of Hezbollah’s units and worked hard to restore them to readiness for war with Israel”.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed five people and wounded 28 more. It hit a multi-storey building, sending debris crashing into cars on the main road below.
People rushed out of their apartment buildings out of fear of further bombardment, a Reuters reporter said.
Following the strike, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the international community to intervene to halt Israeli attacks.
In a statement, Aoun said Lebanon “reiterates its call to the international community to assume its responsibility and intervene firmly and seriously to stop the attacks on Lebanon and its people”.
The strike came a week before Pope Leo is set to land in Lebanon on his first foreign trip, with many Lebanese hoping the visit could signal the country was heading towards better days.
The November 2024 ceasefire was meant to end a year of fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, triggered by Hezbollah’s rocket fire on Israeli posts a day after the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian ally Hamas.
But Israel has kept up near-daily strikes on Lebanon since the truce, targeting what it says are Hezbollah arms depots, fighters and efforts by the group to rebuild. It has ratcheted up those strikes in recent weeks.
“We will not allow Hezbollah, the terror organisation, to recover and rebuild its strength and threaten Israel from anywhere inside of Lebanon,” Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters after the strike.
Asked if Israel had notified the US before carrying out the strike, Bedrosian said Israel makes decisions independently.
Earlier, a senior US official said Israel did not notify the United States in advance about its strike, an Axios reporter said on Sunday in a post on X.
The official said the administration was informed immediately after the strike and a second senior US official said Washington knew for days that Israel was planning to escalate strikes in Lebanon, the post read.
Israel eliminated much of the group’s leadership during the year-long war, including its then-leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Tel Aviv and Beirut have traded blame over ceasefire violations since 2024. Lebanon says Israel’s continuing strikes and occupation of five southern posts in Lebanese territories are major breaches. Aoun says he is open to negotiations but has not received a positive response from Israeli officials.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to regroup in the south, and is pressuring Lebanon to be more aggressive in confiscating all unauthorised arms across the country, including Hezbollah’s.a
Hezbollah has not fired on Israel since the ceasefire started and says it is abiding by it.