Hezbollah chief killed in Beirut

ISRAEL killed Hezbollah’s military chief in a strike on Beirut at the weekend, the Israeli military and the militant group said, hitting an apartment building and killing five people according to Lebanese authorities.

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Haytham Ali Tabatabai is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the start of a ceasefire in November 2024 that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between the two.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country “will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power’, and called on the Lebanese government to “fulfil its commitment to disarm Hezbollah”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the attack killed five people and wounded 28 more.

The ministry did not give the identities of those killed in the strike, which hit the Haret Hreik area in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a densely populated area where Hezbollah holds sway.

The group itself, however, said later that four of its fighters had been killed.

In a statement shortly after the strike, the Israeli military said it had “eliminated the terrorist Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s chief of general staff”.

It was the fifth Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since a ceasefire agreed in November 2024 after a year of conflict, and comes a week before Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Lebanon.

The military insisted in its statement that it “remains committed” to the ceasefire.