BEIRUT: Hezbollah will hold a funeral on Monday for its top military chief and other members of the militant group, a day after Israel killed them with a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Haytham Ali Tabatabai is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between the two sides.
Tabatabai’s assassination comes as Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon, with the United States increasing its pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.
The group called on its supporters to attend the mass funeral for its “great leader” Tabatabai which will take place in the southern suburbs, a densely populated area where it holds sway.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had “eliminated the terrorist Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s chief of general staff.”
The group announced the death of Tabatabai and four other members in the attack.
Hezbollah said Tabatabai assumed the role of military leader after the most recent war with Israel, which saw the group suffer heavy losses including the killings of its senior leaders.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
According to the agreement, Hezbollah was to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border with Israel and have its military infrastructure there dismantled.
Under a government-approved plan, the Lebanese army is to dismantle Hezbollah military infrastructure south of the river by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.
Hezbollah has strongly rejected the move.
Limited options
After the assassination, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would “not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power” and called on the Lebanese government to “fulfil its commitment to disarm Hezbollah.”
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on condition of anonymity that there are currently “two opinions within the group — those who wish to respond to the assassination and those who want to refrain from doing so — but the leadership tends to adopt the utmost forms of diplomacy at the present stage.”
The group’s choices now seem limited. Not only was it weakened by the last war with Israel, it also lost its supply route through Syria with the fall of former ruler and ally Bashar Assad in December.
In addition to disarmament, Washington is also demanding that Beirut dry up the group’s funding from Iran, which slammed Sunday’s “cowardly” assassination.
“Hezbollah’s options are very limited,” Atlantic Council researcher Nicholas Blanford told AFP, as “its support base is clamouring for revenge but if Hezbollah responds directly... Israel will strike back very hard and no one in Lebanon will thank Hezbollah for that.”
Blanford said the strike was the biggest blow to Hezbollah since the ceasefire “because of (Tabatabai’s) seniority and the fact that it demonstrates the Israelis can still locate and target senior officials despite whatever protective measures Hezbollah is undertaking” after the war.
The Lebanese military has said it is carrying out its plan to disarm the group, but the US and Israel have accused Lebanese authorities of stalling the process.
A military official told AFP last week that the American and Israeli demands to have Hezbollah fully disarmed by the end of the year were “impossible” given a shortage of personnel and equipment and fears of confrontations with local communities that support Hezbollah.
In his condemnation of the Israeli strike on Sunday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stressed that “the only way to consolidate stability” is through “extending the authority of the state over all its territory with its own forces, and enabling the Lebanese army to carry out its duties.”
Hezbollah mourns top commander killed in Israeli strike
https://arab.news/zjfb9
Hezbollah mourns top commander killed in Israeli strike
- Tabatabai’s assassination comes as Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon
- Hezbollah said Tabatabai assumed the role of military leader after the most recent war with Israel
Syria nears anniversary of Assad’s fall amid renewed ‘deeply troubling’ abuses, UN warns
- Early steps by interim leadership ‘encouraging but only the beginning’ of long process of accountability, human rights chief says
- Concern that rising hate speech, both online and on the streets, has intensified violence against Alawite, Druze, Christian, Bedouin communities
NEW YORK: Syria is days away from marking the first anniversary of the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime, but the country’s interim authorities face mounting criticism over continuing abuses and a fragile security environment, the UN human rights chief said.
In a statement on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said early steps by the interim leadership, including the creation of national commissions for transitional justice and missing persons, and investigative bodies examining violence in coastal areas and in Suweida, were “encouraging but only the beginning” of a long process of accountability.
Trials for suspects linked to last year’s coastal violence have begun, and a draft law on transitional justice has been announced. But Turk said the human rights situation remains deeply troubling.
According to the UN, hundreds of people have been killed over the past year in summary executions, arbitrary killings, and abductions. Victims include members of minority communities and individuals accused of ties to the former government. Deaths were attributed to gunfire, stabbings, blunt-force attacks, shelling, hand grenades and explosive remnants of war.
The UN said perpetrators include security forces under the interim authorities, armed groups aligned with them, remnants of the former government’s forces, local militias, and unidentified armed actors.
Investigators also documented reports of sexual violence, arbitrary detention, looting, destruction of homes, forced evictions, and property confiscations, along with restrictions on free expression and peaceful assembly.
Turk warned that rising hate speech, both online and on the streets, had intensified violence against Alawite, Druze, Christian, and Bedouin communities.
The past year has also seen repeated Israeli military operations inside Syrian territory, including incursions and the occupation of additional areas. The UN said it had received reports of civilian casualties in a recent Israeli strike near Damascus, along with arrests and home searches carried out during military actions.
Turk expressed concern that former armed groups have been integrated into new security forces without adequate human rights checks, raising the risk of repeat violations.
“Proper vetting and comprehensive security sector reform are essential to prevent individuals responsible for serious abuses from entering the security forces,” he said.
He urged Syria’s interim authorities to ensure independent and transparent investigations into all violations, past and present, and to hold those responsible to account.
“Accountability, justice, peace, and the security of all Syrians are absolute prerequisites for a successful transition,” Turk said, adding that victims must have access to remedies and reparation.
The UN Human Rights Office said its Damascus program is supporting efforts to advance inclusive transitional justice and strengthen the rule of law as Syria navigates a post-Assad transition.
