Photo: Getty Images
Israel's military confirmed that it killed a senior Hezbollah official during its first airstrike on Beirut in months on Sunday (November 23) via the Associated Press.
Haytham Tabtabai, who the Israeli military described as the Hezbollah's chief of staff, was killed in the attack, according to a statement. Tabtabai led Hezbollah's elite Radwan Unit and was designated as a terrorist by the United States, who offered up to $5 million for information about him, in 2016.
Hezbollah didn't provide an immediate public comment regarding Tabtabai's reported death as of Sunday morning. Beirut, Lebanon's capital city, was targeted for the first time since June during an attack that resulted in five deaths and 25 others being injured, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Hezbollah claimed that the airstrike threatened an escalation of attacks as it took place nearly one year after a ceasefire agreement to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. The attack also took place days before Pope Leo XIV was set to visit Lebanon.
“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 in a statement obtained by the Associated Press. Government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian did not say whether Israel informed the U.S. before the strike, saying only that “Israel makes decisions independently.”