TEHRAN – Iran is reacting strongly to Israel’s recent invasion of Lebanon, which led to the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Haitham Ali Tabatabai.
In a post on his X account, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, expressed his condolences for the martyrdom of Haytham Ali Tabatabai and many of his associates at the hands of the Israeli regime.
He said that while these martyrs had achieved their goal, “(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is pushing for adventurism and making sure everyone understands that there is no other option but to confront this illegitimate entity.”
Haytham Ali Tabatabai was assassinated on Sunday in a devastating Israeli airstrike on the southern outskirts of Beirut. This attack is significant because it marks the first time that regime warplanes have attacked the capital, although Israel has violated the November 2024 ceasefire agreement almost every day since it went into effect. Most of the violations to date have occurred in southern Lebanon.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran also condemned the assassination. The ministry said in a statement late Sunday that the strike was a “grave violation” of the ceasefire agreement and a “brutal attack” on Lebanon’s sovereignty.
The ministry stressed the need to hold criminal Israeli leaders accountable for “acts of terrorism and war crimes.”
Arab media described the Israeli attack as “treacherous” and noted that residential buildings were targeted. Footage of the aftermath shows residents in a state of shock and fear, with several people nearby covered in blood. The assault left at least five people dead and 28 injured.
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah officially confirmed the martyrdom of Haysam Ali Tabatabai hours after the incident occurred.
Hezbollah said in a statement: “With pride and honor, Hezbollah announces to the people of the resistance and the Lebanese people the martyrdom of the great jihadi commander Haitham Ali Tabtabai (Sayed Abu Ali), who sacrificed himself for Lebanon and its people in the aftermath of Israel’s treacherous attack on Haret Lake on the southern outskirts of Beirut.”
The resistance group praised his unwavering dedication to the resistance movement, noting that he had been instrumental in building its strength since its creation.
Hezbollah said Tabatabai’s martyrdom would inspire new hope and determination among resistance fighters, vowing to continue the struggle against “the Zionist enemy and its patron America.”
Hezbollah has lost many leaders to Israeli attacks over the past two years. During this period, Israel waged war not only against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, but also on several other fronts, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Qatar. Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 people.
However, Israel’s “decapitation” strategy appears to have failed to prevent Hezbollah from rallying and repairing itself. Resistance groups have not only restored military strength on multiple fronts, but are also preparing for a larger wave of Israeli invasion, which is widely believed to be imminent, according to Hebrew media.
A former top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that the Israeli regime’s targeted killings of resistance commanders were accelerating its own downfall.
Mohsen Rezaei said he believed attacking Lebanese and Iranian commanders could force them into submission, and that the regime “believes it can advance (its plans) through assassinations.”
In June, Israel assassinated top Iranian military commanders in the first hours of a 12-day war. This assumes that retaliation will be significantly delayed. Instead, Iran retaliated the same day, eventually forcing the regime to call for a ceasefire, and continued to target occupied territory until the final moments before the ceasefire went into effect.
Rezaei, who is currently a member of the Islamic Republic’s Expediency Council, added that such commanders do not represent the government or the state. “These commanders belong to the state and to the oppressed people. Their martyrdom cannot (therefore) be meaningless to the people.”
Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has done little over the past year to prevent Israel from violating the ceasefire. Beirut authorities are primarily focused on fulfilling demands from Washington, Israel’s main patron and war financier, the most important of which is the disarmament of Hezbollah. Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s during Israel’s occupation of Lebanon and has become the most powerful defense force against the Lebanese regime in recent decades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet are enthusiastic supporters of the “Greater Israel” initiative, which aims to incorporate all of Lebanon and territories of other regional countries into the Jewish state.