Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah official in its first strike on
Beirut in months
[November 24, 2025]
By FADI TAWIL and KAREEM CHEHAYEB
HARET HREIK, Lebanon (AP) — Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon’s capital
for the first time since June, saying it killed Hezbollah’s chief of
staff Haytham Tabtabai and warning the Iran-backed militant group not to
rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war.
The strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed five people and wounded
25 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Hezbollah confirmed Tabtabai's death. Earlier it said the strike,
launched almost exactly a year after a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah
war, threatened an escalation of attacks — just 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. The military instructed residents in northern
Israel near the Lebanese border to continue with daily routines,
indicating that it did not anticipate a military response from
Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Tabtabai of leading
Hezbollah's efforts to rearm.
Israeli airstrikes over southern Lebanon have intensified in recent
weeks while Israel and the United States have pressured Lebanon to
disarm Hezbollah. Israel asserts that the group is trying to rebuild its
military capabilities. The Lebanese government, which supports disarming
Hezbollah, has denied those claims. It also says troops have deployed to
the south but that its cash-strapped army needs more resources.
Hezbollah has not attacked Israel since the ceasefire began. In
December, it fired a couple of rockets that landed on open territory
near an Israeli military base and called it a “warning.”
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. Tabtabai
also had led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit. In 2016, the U.S. designated
him as a terrorist, calling him a military leader who led Hezbollah’s
special forces in Syria and Yemen, and it offered up to $5 million for
information about him.
‘Escalation of assaults’
“Hezbollah’s leadership is studying the matter of response and will take
the appropriate decision,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s
political council, told journalists at the scene. “The strike on the
southern suburbs today opens the door to an escalation of assaults all
over Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun in a statement condemned the strike and
accused Israel of refusing to implement its end of the ceasefire
agreement. He called on the international community to “intervene with
strength and seriousness to stop the attacks on Lebanon and its people.”
Israel's military statement said Israel remains committed to the
“understandings” agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon.
Smoke could be seen in the busy Haret Hreik neighborhood, where Israel
did not issue an evacuation warning before the strike. The fourth floor
of an apartment building was damaged. Gunshots were heard to disperse
crowds as emergency workers arrived.
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Civil defense workers inspect the damage at an apartment building
hit during an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh in the southern suburb of
Beirut, Sunday Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
“This is definitely a civilian area and void of any military
presence,” Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Ammar told reporters.
An Israeli drone was flying near the building targeted.
“They want to take our weapons. But our weapons will not be taken,”
said Maryam Assaf, who lives nearby and heard the strike. She said
it "only gives us more determination, strength, and dignity.”
Hezbollah severely weakened
Lebanon's president last week said the country is ready to enter
negotiations with Israel to stop its airstrikes and to withdraw from
five hilltop points it occupies on Lebanese territory. He also has
said Lebanon is committed to disarming all non-state actors in the
country, including Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has said that talk about its military arsenal should come
through dialogue with the Lebanese state once Israel stops its
attacks.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after
Hamas attacked southern Israel, as 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 was the most recent of several conflicts involving
Hezbollah over the past four decades. It killed more than 4,000
people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an
estimated $11 billion worth of 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 the southern city of Sidon in the
deadliest attack since the ceasefire went into effect. The military
said it targeted a military facility belonging to the Palestinian
Hamas militant group. Hamas denied it has any military facilities in
the crowded camp.
Oct. 7 attack
Meanwhile, the Israeli army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir,
said he was sanctioning 13 army officials who were top commanders on
Oct. 7, 2023. Some were censured and others forced into retirement.
Among those punished were the then-heads of military intelligence,
the army’s operation branch and the Southern Command, which is
responsible for the Gaza Strip. All three men have already resigned.
They were removed from reserve duty and told their military careers
are over.
Zamir noted the “severe, resounding and systemic failure” to protect
Israelis before and during the attack as well as the need to "set a
clear standard of command responsibility.”
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Megan
Janetsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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