Israel targets Hezbollah chief of staff in strike on Beirut | Lebanon
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that an Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut targeted the chief of staff of Lebanon’s Iran-linked Hezbollah.
The strike was the first attack in months in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah officials are sheltered.
According to an Israeli source and a Lebanese security source with knowledge of the attack, the target of the attack was military officer Ali Tabtabai. Netanyahu’s office did not provide information on whether Tabtabai was killed.
An Axios reporter said in a post on channel X on Sunday that a senior US official said Israel did not give Washington advance notice of the attack.
The official said the administration was briefed immediately after the attack, and a second senior US official said the US had known for days that Israel was planning to increase attacks in Lebanon.
The US imposed sanctions on Tabtabai in 2016, identifying him as a key military leader of Hezbollah and offering a reward of up to $5 million (£3.8 million) for information about him.
The strike hit the main road in Beirut’s southern suburbs; Residents said they heard the roar of warplanes before the explosion. A Reuters correspondent in the area said people rushed out of apartments fearing more attacks.
At least two people died and two dozen were injured and taken to area hospitals, medical sources said. There has been no statement from Hezbollah yet.
Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah over the past two years have killed the group’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, most of the group’s senior military officers, and approximately 5,000 fighters.
Before the attack, Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday morning that Israel would continue to fight “terrorism” on many fronts. “We will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Hezbollah from regaining the ability to threaten us,” he said.
Israel has stepped up airstrikes in southern Lebanon and stepped up a daily offensive campaign that it says is designed to thwart Hezbollah’s military resurgence in the border region.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of trying to rearm since the US-backed ceasefire last year. The group announced that it had complied with the requirements that it end its military presence in the border area near Israel and that the Lebanese army would be stationed there.
