Hezbollah Chief Threatens Israel After Top Commander Killed in Beirut Strike

Hezbollah Chief Threatens Israel After Top Commander Killed in Beirut Strike

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, on Friday, threatened Israel after the Iranian-backed terror group’s second-in-command was killed in a Beirut airstrike last weekend. In a televised address marking one year since the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, he “vowed Israel would pay a price and said the group will choose the time of its response,” Israel’s Ynetnews reported.

Qassem, who replaced Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed in an Israeli strike last September, also threatened to drag Lebanon into another war with Israel. “Qassem urged Lebanon’s government to prepare for war with Israel, describing the elimination of Tabtabai as a grave provocation. Tabtabai had been appointed Hezbollah’s chief of staff following the group’s war with Israel,” The Israel National News noted.

The Hezbollah chief was angered at Sunday’s Israeli airstrike that eliminated Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s second-in-command and top commander. Qassem recalled his deputy’s terrorist exploits, saying he played a “significant role” in Hezbollah’s recent terrorist campaigns against Israel, in “planning, organization, timing of drone launches and coordination of fire.”

Hezbollah’s 🇮🇷 leader Naim Qassem admits that Israel 🇮🇱 eliminated the terror group’s top terror chief Haytham Ali Tabtabai last week in Beirut 🇱🇧. He should check his beeper, cell phone or walkie talkie for further updates. pic.twitter.com/yXpy0JAtyA

— Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי (@AviKaner) November 29, 2025

Hezbollah’s number two, Tabatabai, was eliminated while plotting terrorist actions against Israel. He was in a meeting with his associates “to prepare for future actions” when the IDF took him out, Qassem boasted in his speech.

“The goal of the assassination was to undermine our morale and create confusion,” Hezbollah chief lamented.

Reuters reported the terror chief’s threat:

The head of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Friday it retained the right to respond to Israel’s killing days ago of its top military commander and left open the possibility of a new conflict with Israel.

Naim Qassem spoke in a televised address as fears grew in Lebanon that Israel could escalate its bombardment of the country to compel Hezbollah to relinquish its arsenal across the country, which the group has repeatedly rejected.

Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s top military commander Haytham Ali Tabtabai in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on November 23 sharpened those worries.

Qassem said the group would “set the timing” for any retaliation, and said threats of a broader air campaign had no impact on the group – but that renewed war was possible.

“Do you expect a war later? It’s possible sometime. Yes, this possibility is there, and the possibility of no war is also there,” Qassem said.

Qassem did not explicitly say what the group’s position would be in a new war but said Lebanon should prepare a plan to confront Israel that relies on “its army and its people.

Hezbollah chief’s speech marked one year since Israel agreed to a ceasefire after an eight-week-long military offensive in southern Lebanon. In early October 2023, Israeli troops crossed into Lebanon after the Iranian proxy terror group relentlessly bombarded northern Israel following the October 7 massacre, forcing over 70,000 civilians to flee their homes.

“The November 2024 ceasefire was meant to end a year of fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, triggered by Hezbollah’s rocket fire on Israel that began a day after the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel perpetrated by its Palestinian ally Hamas,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS observed. “However the Lebanese jihadists have mounted an effort to rebuild their terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon, thereby violating the understandings agreed upon in the deal.

Under the U.S.-brokered peace agreement, Lebanon’s government was obliged to disarm Hezbollah by the year-end in return for the ceasefire with Israel. With Hezbollah now rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure on Israel’s northern border, Beirut has miserably failed to keep its commitment.

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