Israel says killed Hezbollah chief of staff in Beirut strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday 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.

Hezbollah confirmed in a statement the killing of "the great commander" Tabatabai in "a treacherous Israeli attack".

- 'Maximum enforcement' -

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the strike hit the third and fourth floors of a nine-storey building, where ambulance and fire crews scrambled to find survivors and Lebanese soldiers deployed to secure the site.

Debris littered the road below, with several burned-out cars in the street. 

The AFP journalist saw rescue workers evacuating a body wrapped in a white bag and at least three wounded women from the site.

"I was on the balcony. There was a flash, then I hit the railing and all the glass broke," a man who was in a building opposite the targeted apartment told AFP, refusing to give his name.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said three missiles were fired at the building.

Netanyahu's office said he had ordered the attack.

"In the heart of Beirut, the IDF (Israeli military) attacked the Hezbollah chief of staff, who had been leading the terrorist organisation's build-up and rearmament," the premier's office said in a statement.

Separately, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said: "Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have his hand cut off," warning that Israel would "continue the policy of maximum enforcement".

Israel has defended its attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire as upholding the terms of the deal by preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding.

Sunday's strike was the first on Beirut's southern suburbs since June 5, when Israel said it hit a Hezbollah drone factory.

- Hezbollah weakened -

Tabatabai, born in 1968 according to Hezbollah's statement, was largely unknown to the Lebanese public.

Prior to his role as military chief, Tabatabai was "responsible for the Yemen file" in the group, a source close to the group told AFP.

The United States says he commanded special forces in the country as well as in Syria, where Hezbollah supported former president Bashar al-Assad during the country's brutal civil war.

The US Treasury had offered a $5 million reward for information on Tabatabai.

Hezbollah was weakened by its fight with Israel, which it started in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza in October 2023 with cross-border exchanges of fire that later escalated into two months of full-blown war.

Since then, Lebanon has come under increasing Israeli and US pressure to disarm the militant group, a move that the group has opposed.

Netanyahu earlier on Sunday told a cabinet meeting that Israel "will continue to do everything necessary to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing its threat capability against us".

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the international community to intervene firmly to stop Israeli attacks on the country.

Beirut "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", he said in a statement.

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