Read the editorial on the US-Israel failed policy of assassinations here.
On November 23, Hezbollah announced the Israeli assassination of senior commander Haitham Ali Tabatabai, known in Hezbollah’s ranks as Sayyed Abu Ali. He was killed in a targeted strike on a residential building in Beirut, Lebanon, which left five people dead and 28 wounded, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Tabatabai commanded one of Hezbollah’s special operations units, the Radwan Force, which is tasked with performing ambushes, assassinations, and infiltration. The unit carried out the successful 2006 raid on Israel that captured and killed several Zionist troops. Under Tabatabai’s leadership, the Radwan Force led the attacks against Israel beginning in October 2023 in support of the Palestinian resistance.
Hezbollah denounced the assassination of Tabatabai as a “treacherous Israeli act of aggression” and said that Tabatabaihad “ascended as a martyr in sacrifice for Lebanon and its people”.
Several Palestinian resistance factions issued statements commemorating the life of Tabatabai. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)’s Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades stated: “The message carried by this targeting does not stop at the resistance alone, but targets the entire nation, in an attempt to make its people feel that security is incomplete and the threat is constant. However, the facts contradict what the aggressor desires; the popular will is too profound to be terrorized, and national sovereignty and dignity are too firm to be snatched away.”
With the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Hezbollah immediately opened up a front with the Zionist state in support of the Palestinian resistance. In October 2024, Israel invaded Lebanon in order to disarm Hezbollah, subjugate the Lebanese people, and annex its territory. Hezbollah’s guerrilla warfare was successful in repelling the Zionist onslaught, while the latter carried out civilian massacres in the hopes of turning the Lebanese people against Hezbollah.
The ensuing ceasefire, which went into effect November 27, 2024, has since been violated by Israel over 10,000 times according to the United Nations.
The US and Israel are now pressuring the lackey Lebanese government to forcibly disarm Hezbollah in order to intensify their subjugation of the country, pushing them to all-out civil war. The Israeli government has set an ultimatum for Hezbollah to disarm by December 31, with its Defense Minister stating, “If Hezbollah does not give up its weapons by the year’s end, we will work forcefully again in Lebanon.”
Hezbollah refuses to disarm. Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s leader, has previously stated, “If you truly want sovereignty, then stop the aggression. We will not abandon the weapons that honor us, nor the weapons that protect us from our enemy,”
Image: A Sayyed Abu Ali memorial graphic. Credit: Hezbollah, acquired from the Resistance News Network
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