TEHRAN – Lebanon’s Hezbollah’s military media unit has published a profile of senior military commander Haitham Ali al-Tabtabai, known as Saeed Abu Ali.
Born on November 5, 1968 in Beirut’s Bashora district, al-Tabtabai was a founding member of Hezbollah, completed extensive military and leadership training, and participated in numerous operations.
These included high-risk missions targeting Israeli military positions and collaborators occupying Lebanon before the liberation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
This statement highlighted his prominent battlefield role during the Zionist regime’s invasions in 1993 and 1996.
Al-Tabtabai served as head of the Nabatiyeh Front in southern Lebanon from 1996 until its liberation in 2000, and in 2003 was one of the commanders of the occupation operation at Berket al-Nakhar in occupied Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms.
He commanded the Kiam Front on the Lebanese border from 2000 to 2008, leading a heroic confrontation there during the Israeli regime’s invasion in July 2006.
He later became head of the Hezbollah intervention force. After the martyrdom of the famous commander Imad Mughniyeh, Al Tabtabai contributed to the creation and development of the elite Radwan Army.
Al-Tabtabai was one of the Hezbollah commanders who planned and managed operations against Takfir factions on Lebanon’s eastern border, and was entrusted with senior leadership roles across the Axis of Resistance in various arenas.
Al Tabtabai held the position of Director of Operations during the Military Support Front launched by Hezbollah on October 8, 2023 in solidarity with the Palestinian people facing genocide in Gaza.
He was one of the senior commanders who managed and supervised Hezbollah’s operations during the nearly two-month long “Great Powers” battle in 2024.
He took over responsibility for military command of Hezbollah after the ceasefire was established between the Zionist regime and Lebanon on November 27, 2024.
Hezbollah announced al-Tabtabai’s martyrdom in the Haret Lake area, describing him as a man who gave his life for Lebanon and its people. Five people were killed and 28 injured when the Israeli occupation attacked an apartment building in Haret Lake, a southern suburb of Beirut, on Sunday afternoon, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun highlighted the Lebanese government’s repeated efforts to maintain peace under an uneasy ceasefire and stressed the need for world powers to enforce international resolutions and protect civilian lives amid rising tensions.
Al Tabtabai’s martyrdom provoked a swift response from local resistance movements.
Yemen’s Ansarallah political bureau offered its condolences to Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Qassim “with immense pride and honor” and stressed that the Israeli regime’s “treacherous and despicable crimes” will not break the will of the resistance. In fact, it said, such sacrifices only strengthen its resolve.
The Iraqi resistance movement al-Nujaba declared that “this invasion reflects the evil intentions of the Zionist project in the region, built on undermining stability and targeting societies and their leaders who refuse to submit to its rule.”
The al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of Hamas, commemorated him as a martyr who “fell on the road to Jerusalem.” He called his assassination a criminal act and praised his role in supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance during the U.S.-backed genocidal war in Gaza.
Hamas also condemned the attack on the Dahieh suburb south of Beirut as a treacherous attack and a clear violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, saying it was trying to drag Lebanon and the region into an escalation that only served the interests of the Zionist regime.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed group, the Al-Quds Brigades, also mourned Al-Tabtabai, saying he was a resistance fighter, a brave commander and a pillar of the Lebanese Islamic resistance movement who stood as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian factions.
The Palestinian Fatah Intifada movement said: “This dastardly operation is a desperate attempt by the prime minister of the Zionist organization to seek a supposed victory, even a fabricated one, to flip the cards and present to the people, since all resistance leaders are doomed to martyrdom.”