THE Israeli occupation army assassinated a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb yesterday, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians in a new act of aggression on a residential neighbourhood.
Lebanese media reported a massive explosion followed by Israeli aircraft flying over the area, marking a significant escalation after days of successive strikes on sites in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley.
The Israeli army radio said that the target of the attack in Beirut was Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s acting chief of staff.
The genocidal Israeli regime’s military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Beirut’s southern suburb, El-Hara area.
The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five and injuring more than 21 people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out the strike ‘in the heart of Beirut’.
Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.
Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.
The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. ‘We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out.’
The second senior official said that the ‘US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike.’
Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted ‘all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire’.
He stated that ‘any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon’s dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens.’
Ammar went on to say that the resistance is responding with ‘utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time’.
‘Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression,’ he added.
The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.
An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late last Tuesday killed at least 14 people, wounding several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The Israeli military claimed the attack targeted ‘a Hamas training compound’ used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime – a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.
Hamas rejected the allegations as ‘a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,’ stating it had ‘no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon’ and that the targeted site was merely ‘an open sports field’.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.