“The Israeli enemy’s miscalculations and repeated failures are due to its lack of understanding and knowledge that targeted killings of Hezbollah commanders would not weaken it," Sheikh Ali Damoush, Head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, said on Monday.
“Such killings only reinforce the movement’s resolve and determination to confront the Israeli occupation,” the official added as he addressed the funeral procession of senior military commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai, who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on Harat Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut the previous day.
He paid tribute to Tabatabai, stressing that he was instrumental during Hezbollah’s early battles. “The movement has lost a major strategist, whose contributions shaped key battles over more than three decades.”
Sheikh Damoush stated that the fallen Hezbollah military commander spent over 35 years organising resistance operations, and was among the first military figures to plan and oversee “early decisive confrontations” that dealt heavy blows to Israeli ground forces.
He also pointed to Tabatabai’s post-war role in the leadership, planning, and strategic development of Hezbollah.
The senior Hezbollah official described the Israeli assassination strike as a grave mistake for the regime, emphasising that the Zionist entity has to stay alert as the Lebanese resistance movement is weighing a response to the killing.
Sheikh Damoush also emphasised that all the concessions made by the Lebanese government have been futile and have not prevented Israeli acts of aggression.
He reaffirmed Hezbollah’s firm commitment to the path of resistance and upholding martyrs’ heroic legacies.
“We will complete what you started, and will remain in the field defending Lebanon and the nation,” Sheikh Damoush stated.