(MENAFN) An Israeli aerial attack on Beirut on Sunday resulted in the death of a senior leader within the militant organization Hezbollah.

Haytham Ali Tabatabai, also known by his nom de guerre "Abu Ali Tabatabai," was targeted in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon’s capital.

Both Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed his death. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that the strike claimed at least five lives and wounded 28 additional individuals.

Tabatabai became part of Hezbollah as a teenager following the group’s creation during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

He was among the few veteran commanders to survive Israel’s targeted-killing campaign last year.

Hezbollah is one of the Iran-supported factions challenging Israel’s influence in the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the attack, describing it as part of Israel’s continuous campaign to dismantle the organization, which it accuses of engaging in terrorism.

“It is not for nothing that the US put a bounty of five million dollars on his head,” Netanyahu stated on X, referring to the reward the US announced in 2016, a year after Tabatabai evaded an earlier Israeli assassination attempt.

Israeli authorities noted that Tabatabai acted as the group’s “second-in-command” within its current military structure. Hezbollah honored him as a “great commander.”

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