Hezbollah vows timed response to Israeli assassination of senior commander

Beirut: Hezbollah has signalled that it intends to retaliate for the assassination of senior commander Haytham Tabtabai, with the group’s leader Naim Qassem declaring that the movement will decide when and how to respond to Israel’s strike. Speaking at a memorial ceremony in Beirut on Friday for Tabtabai and other slain members, Qassem described the killing as “blatant aggression and a crime”, insisting that Hezbollah’s right to respond is established and that it alone “will determine the moment”.

Earlier this month, at least five people, including Tabtabai, were killed and 28 others wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit a residential apartment in Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Qassem suggested that local “collaborators” may have helped facilitate the attack, pointing to recent arrests by Lebanon’s General Security that allegedly uncovered individuals providing information to Israel.

In his address, Qassem also criticised what he called ongoing Israeli violations, including drone overflights of Lebanese government facilities, and urged the Beirut authorities to adopt a clearer and stronger defensive posture in the face of repeated incursions. He warned that the assassination was intended to weaken Hezbollah and sow confusion, but said the group would continue its operations and would not bow to Israeli pressure.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has likewise promised retaliation, vowing a “crushing response” to Israel over Tabtabai’s killing. In a statement carried by its official outlet Sepah News, the IRGC condemned what it called a “brutal crime” and a “flagrant and terrorist” act, stressing that the “resistance axis and Hezbollah” reserve the right to avenge the assassination and that any decisive response will come at a time of their choosing.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry also denounced the airstrike, describing it as a “brutal aggression” against Lebanon’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty and framing the attack as part of a broader pattern of Israeli escalations in the region. The assassination of Tabtabai, one of Hezbollah’s most senior military figures, has raised fears of a renewed cycle of confrontation between Israel and the Lebanese movement, with both sides signalling that further escalation remains possible.

(Inputs from IANS)