(MENAFN) An Israeli airstrike targeted Beirut on Sunday, resulting 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 struck in the Haret Hreik area, a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon’s capital.

Both Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed his passing. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that at least five people were killed and 28 others wounded in the attack.

Tabatabai became a member of Hezbollah as a teenager shortly after the group’s formation 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-backed forces that resist Israel’s influence in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the airstrike, describing it as part of Israel’s continued efforts to dismantle the organization, which it labels as terrorist.

“It is not for nothing that the US put a bounty of five million dollars on his head,” Netanyahu stated on X, referencing the reward issued by the United States in 2016, a year after Tabatabai survived a previous Israeli assassination attempt.

Israeli authorities indicated that Tabatabai acted as the group’s “second-in-command” within its present military structure. Hezbollah, meanwhile, hailed him as a “great commander.”

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