Haytham Ali Tabataba. Click to see full-size image.
The Israeli escalation against Hezbollah reached a new peak on November 23 with the assassination of the group’s chief of staff in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Haytham Ali Tabataba, known by his nom de guerre “Abu Ali,” was killed in a targeted strike that hit the third and fourth floors of a nine-story building in the Haret Hreik area in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah commonly known as Dahiya.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that three “missiles” hit the building, but photos from the scene of the strike suggest that more than five projectiles were used.
Click to see full-size image. (X)
Click to see full-size image. (X)
In a statement announcing the strike, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that Tabatabai was a “veteran and central operative in the terror organization,” after joining its ranks in the 1980s and holding several senior roles, including the commander of the elite Radwan Force and head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria.
The military added that during the last confrontation with Hezbollah Tabatabai was appointed to head Hezbollah’s operations division, responsible for “consolidating the organization’s situational picture and force buildup.”
The confrontation in question, which saw Hezbollah taking some heavy losses, was initiated by the group itself a day after the October 7 surprise attack from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel of 2023 to support its allies in the Palestinian enclave, namely the Hamas Movement.
In late 2024, after most of Hezbollah’s leadership was killed, he “effectively served as the official responsible for managing the fighting against Israel,” according to the IDF.
After the end of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024, he was officially appointed as the military chief of staff in the group. “In this role, he led the organization’s reconstruction,” the military said.
In Hezbollah’s command and control chain, Tabatabai was considered second only to the group’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem.
He was born in 1968 in Beirut to a south Lebanese mother and an Iranian father. He was raised in southern Lebanon, the heartland of Hezbollah, and joined the group early in his life.
The IDF attempted to assassinate Tabatabai more than once in the past. The most notable attempt took place in southern Syria in 2015. That strike failed to kill him, but claimed the life of Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah commander assassinated in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in 2008.
Hezbollah confirmed the death of Tabatabai in an official statement, eulogizing him as a “great Jihadi commander.” It said that the commander “dedicated his life to the resistance” and “was among the leaders who laid the foundation” for it. Notably, the group didn’t vow to respond to the assassination.
Later, the group named four other members killed in the same strike, and one of the group’s officials, Mahmud Qomati, told reporters at the impact site that the attack “crosses a new red line.”
The assassination came almost exactly a year after the United States brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has been launching strikes against Hezbollah on a regular basis since the start of the ceasefire on November 27 of 2024, citing “violations” by the group. Over 300 members of the group have been killed since then, with Tabatabai being the most senior one.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that Tabatabai’s assassination came in response to “Hezbollah’s repeated violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the 2024 ceasefire understandings, as well as the threat he posed to Israel and to regional stability.”
The Lebanese government has failed to address Hezbollah’s violations, said the ministry, adding that Israel “is committed to the full implementation of the ceasefire understandings and has reported hundreds of violations through the international mechanism led by the United States.”
The same justifications were later repeated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said that Tabatabai led Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm.
“Israel will not let Hezbollah rebuild its strength,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
The primer also called the commander “a mass murderer” with the blood of many Israelis and Americans on his hands, adding that he “expects the Lebanese government to fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah.”
“Only in this way will every citizen of Lebanon have a better future, and only in this way can peaceful and secure neighborly relations between Israel and Lebanon exist,” he said.
The assassination was not surprising. In recent weeks, the IDF stepped up strikes on Lebanon, and repeatedly accused Hezbollah of rearming.
Just five days before the assassinaiton Israel tested the waters with a violent strike on the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the coastal city of Sidon in southern Lebanon. At least 13 people, reportedly all Palestinians, were killed. The IDF alleged that there were members of Hamas.
This pattern of escalation is an exact copy of the strategy followed by Israel before moving from a limited confrontation to an all-out war against Hezbollah in September of last year. The IDF first tested the waters by hitting Palestinian targets, then assassinated senior commanders of Hezbollah and carried out a series of covert operations, including the pager attack. Eventually, the military unleashed a major aerial campaign followed by a ground invasion.
All in all, the IDF appears to be about to start a new war on Lebanon. Despite playing the role of the mediator, the U.S., which has reportedly praised the assassination of Tabatabai, will not likely stand in the face of Israel.
Hezbollah will not likely respond to the assassination of its chief of staff. Still, the IDF to reported to be preparing for such a possibly, with its air defenses placed on high alert. The coming days will likely see other assassinations by Israel, and possibly covert operations.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
kyll hysballaa and herballah too hahahahah
let the yallah yallahs lose another war !
save my favorite goats !
somehow i have real trouble understanding how you can somehow rejoice of a “victory” by a country with all the military power of a superpower, against a militia, for years, and after having made sure said militia won’t fight back.
it does not seem very brave. it seem on the contrary very very low. like playing football against 5 years old children.
but that is the state of the us and israel now : very very low and depraved.
i knew they’d create some sensation using one of their acturs , since they’ve more or less been forced into allowing ukraine to accept a deal .that’s why they’ve made sure there’s plenty of pokers in the fire ..
ane they’ve still got india vs pakistan up their sleeve ,plenty of potential troublespits in africa and can always ignite turkey thanksgivings coming .
israel is a country that is guilty of committing genocide, and the west is its pimps.
also the genocidal country is drenched in hatred and corruption. it seems i already seen this written somewhere …
hizbollah is less capable than many believed
israel is still fighting against a militia years after the conflict started, with all the weapons provided by a superpower and making sure by said superpower that the militia won’t fight back.
i think that is israel that is far less capable than it itself believed, in addition to be completely dependent on the us for its defense (in the past, israel prided itself on fighting its own wars : can’t do that anymore).