Hezbollah buries him this Monday on the outskirts of Beirut number twoHaizam Ali Tabatabai, assassinated the day before by Israel, in the most significant attack in a year of ceasefire in Lebanon, which is going through particularly delicate days.
On Monday, the Shiite militia confirmed his death, which Israel had already speculated. Standing next to the bombed building, one of its leaders, Mahmud Qmati, accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of crossing a “red line” and indicated that the organization’s leadership will evaluate how and when to respond. Hezbollah finds itself in a very difficult position: too weak and isolated regionally to react, but also needing to somehow deal with the growing Israeli attacks (particularly the latter) so as not to prove particularly humiliated and incapable.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force has raised the alert level and strengthened air defenses in the north of the country, facing a possible rocket launch by Hezbollah, also affected by the low hours of its leader, Iran, and the regime change in Syria, where it has received weapons. However, the Israeli military authorities do not expect a barrage of bullets. In fact, they have not changed the instructions addressed to the civilian population, as they usually do when they foresee an imminent attack.
Tabatabai’s murder is the last link in the Israeli escalation against Hezbollah in recent weeks, to which the militias have not responded. At 57, he was chief of staff and the United States – which had him on the sanctions list since 2016 – offered five million dollars (around 4.3 million euros) for the information that led to his arrest. The Israeli army accused him of leading “Hezbollah’s rearmament attempts.”
Netanyahu boasted about the operation on Sunday. “The policy I am pursuing is absolutely clear: under my leadership, the State of Israel will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power and we will not allow it to pose a threat again. I hope that the Lebanese government will keep its commitment to disarm Hezbollah,” he said in a statement. Earlier, at the start of the government’s weekly cabinet meeting, he applauded the attacks of the previous days and stressed that he would continue to “do everything necessary” to prevent Hezbollah from rearming.
Soon after, a cloud of smoke rose over Haret Hreik, a densely populated area on the outskirts of Beirut. According to the Health Ministry, Israel had just bombed a residential building there, resulting in five deaths and at least 28 injuries. It was the first attack in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital since June, raising fears among the local population of an escalation that could lead to a new open war.
Escalation
During the year of ceasefire, Israel did not stop bombing Lebanon almost daily and without response, taking advantage of Hezbollah’s fragility and the connivance of the guarantors of the agreement. But in recent weeks the accusations and attacks have increased.
The Netanyahu government almost daily accuses the Lebanese executive of procrastinating its commitment to disarm the militias (written into the ceasefire agreement) and frames the attacks it launches daily in southern Lebanon (which have killed more than 300 people during the ceasefire) in its determination to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its military capabilities. It is something that he ensures he has done both near and far from the border and that for several days an atmosphere of expectation of a new war or, at least, a wave of bombings has been generated.
The increase in Israeli attacks – its army reported the death of two more alleged commanders on Saturday – is perceived in Lebanon as an act of pressure on the government (to push it to disarm Hezbollah); towards the militiamen, for their refusal to disarm; and towards the community of followers of the organization, which Israel would like to turn against it.
