HARET HREIK, Lebanon — Israel struck Lebanon’s capital on Sunday for the first time since June, saying it killed Hezbollah chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai and warning the Iran-backed militant group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed five people and wounded 25.
Hezbollah did not immediately comment. Earlier the group said the strike — launched almost exactly a year after a ceasefire ended that Israel-Hezbollah war — threatened an escalation of attacks, coming days before Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Lebanon on his first foreign trip.
“We will continue to act forcefully to prevent any threat to the residents of the north and the state of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian did not say whether Israel informed the United States before the strike, saying only that “Israel makes decisions independently.” Israel did not issue an evacuation warning.
Tabtabai led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit. Israel’s military said he “commanded most of Hezbollah’s units and worked hard to restore them to readiness for war with Israel.” Israel’s foreign ministry said his killing came after repeated Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. In 2016 the U.S. designated Tabtabai a terrorist, describing him as a military leader who led Hezbollah’s special forces in Syria and Yemen, and offered up to $5 million for information about him.
Tabtabai had been the apparent successor of Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in September 2024 in Israeli attacks that wiped out much of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
At the scene of Sunday’s strike, Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told journalists that a high-ranking militant may have been killed but gave no further details. “Hezbollah’s leadership is studying the matter of response and will take the appropriate decision,” Qamati said. “The strike on the southern suburbs today opens the door to an escalation of assaults all over Lebanon.”
Smoke was visible in the busy Haret Hreik neighborhood. A video circulating on social media showed dozens of people crowded around the strike site, which appeared to be on the fourth floor of an apartment building. Gunshots could be heard as emergency workers arrived. Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Ammar said the area was “definitely a civilian area and void of any military presence.” An Israeli drone was seen near the targeted building, and the Lebanese military cordoned off the area, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Locals reacted angrily. “They want to take our weapons. But our weapons will not be taken,” said Maryam Assaf, who lives nearby and heard the strike. She added it “only gives us more determination, strength, and dignity.”
Lebanon and U.N. peacekeepers have criticized ongoing Israeli attacks in the country and accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned Sunday’s strike and accused Israel of refusing to implement its end of the ceasefire agreement, calling on the international community to “intervene with strength and seriousness to stop the attacks on Lebanon and its people.”
Israel’s military said it remains committed to the “understandings” agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes over southern Lebanon have intensified in recent weeks as Israel and the United States pressure Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. Israel says Hezbollah is trying to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon; Lebanon’s government, which has approved a military plan that would disarm Hezbollah, has denied those claims.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon last year that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion. That war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.
On Tuesday, an Israeli strike killed 13 people in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near Sidon in the deadliest attack since the ceasefire. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas military facility there; Hamas denied having any military facilities in the crowded camp.
Kareem Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Megan Janetsky in Jerusalem contributed.