Israel’s military says it has killed senior Hezbollah militant Haytham Tabtabai in its strike in Beirut on Sunday.
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The military in a statement described Tabtabai as the Iran-backed militant group’s chief of staff. Hezbollah did not immediately comment. Tabtabai had led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit.
In 2016, the United States designated Tabtabai as a terrorist, calling him a military leader who led Hezbollah’s special forces in Syria and Yemen, and it offered up to US$5 million for information about him.
Sunday’s strike in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs killed five people and wounded 25 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
The strike threatened an escalation of attacks just days before Pope Leo is scheduled to visit Lebanon on his first foreign trip.
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“We will continue to act forcefully to prevent any threat to the residents of the north and the state of Israel,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Government spokesman Shosh Bedrosian did not say whether Israel informed the US before the strike, saying only that “Israel makes decisions independently”.