Israeli Targeting of a Senior Hezbollah Leader in Beirut

SadaNews - The Israeli occupation army targeted a residential apartment today, Sunday, in Al-Areed street in the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiya parking), according to local Lebanese reports, causing extensive damage to the building and its surroundings.

The medical authorities in Beirut have not yet announced the death toll, amid a heavy presence of ambulance crews at the scene. Meanwhile, Israeli reports mentioned that the strike targeted a prominent Hezbollah leader known as Abu Ali Al-Tabtabai.

Israeli reports described Abu Ali Al-Tabtabai as the second man in Hezbollah after Naeem Qassem and "effectively the chief of staff of Hezbollah" and one of the most significant military officials in the party in recent years.

According to those reports, Al-Tabtabai is considered one of the most influential military figures within Hezbollah, having taken on central responsibilities in managing combat files and rebuilding the organization's field capabilities. He has also been credited with leadership roles in previous operations on the front against Israel.

Israeli media indicated that Al-Tabtabai was residing in the apartment that was targeted and that he had recently been working on enhancing Hezbollah's military capabilities and formulating field plans that Tel Aviv deems a direct threat to its security.

The airstrike coincided with an intense presence of Israeli drones flying over Lebanese airspace, and no official comment from Hezbollah regarding the nature of the targeting or the identity of the victims has been issued so far.

For its part, the occupation army announced in a brief statement that it targeted a "central" figure in Hezbollah within Beirut, without disclosing the identity of the target, merely stating that "additional details will be published later."

In southern Lebanon, a Lebanese citizen was killed due to an attack by an Israeli drone while he was working on repairing one of the houses in Aita al-Shab town in the Bent Jbeil district, according to local sources and the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The National News Agency reported that the victim is the released prisoner Muhammad Saleh, noting that he was driving his car in Al-Rajem neighborhood heading to obtain equipment used for repairing his house when he was targeted by the drone with a guided missile.

The agency added that the strike occurred simultaneously with the low flight of an Israeli drone over the city of Hermel.

In the town of Adaisseh, an Israeli drone dropped a sound bomb, causing panic among the residents, but no injuries were reported.

Intensive drone activity has also been observed over the villages and towns east of Tyre, extending into the southern towns in the western sector, amid fears of a widening scope of targeting.

These developments came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated during his government's session today that Israel "will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its threat capability against us."

The attacks fall under the ongoing Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement that ended the extensive aggression launched by Tel Aviv against Lebanon in October 2023, before expanding in September 2024 into a comprehensive war that resulted in the martyrdom of more than 4,000 Lebanese and injured about 17,000 others.

On Thursday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced that it had recorded more than 10,000 aerial and ground violations within Lebanese territories since the agreement came into effect.

Israel still occupies five Lebanese hills in the south, which the agreement stipulated should be withdrawn from within 60 days; however, it has evaded its commitments, in addition to continuing to occupy other Lebanese areas for decades.