Thousands mourn Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli airstrike

BEIRUT (AP) – Thousands of people on Monday attended the funeral organized by the militant Hezbollah group for its top military commander, a day after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut.

Hezbollah supporters walked by Haytham Tabtabai’s coffin, draped in the group’s yellow flag, as it was carried through the crowd. The burial of Tabtabai and two other Hezbollah members took place in a cemetery south of Beirut where the group’s fighters are traditionally laid to rest.

Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon’s capital for the first time since June, saying it killed Tabtabai. The Israeli military described him as Hezbollah’s chief of staff. Israel also warned the Iran-backed group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Sunday’s strike killed five people and wounded 28 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

“Let them (Israelis) continue their raids on us. They want us to surrender so they can enter our homes? Did you see what happened in Gaza? What did they do? They did nothing,” said a Hezbollah supporter who identified himself as Jaafar.

Another Hezbollah supporter, Fatima Shehadeh, said that “no matter how much blood is shed, we will never surrender, and we will never hand over the weapons of the resistance.”

France’s Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed “deep concern” over the strike and potential escalation, calling on parties to go through the ceasefire monitoring mechanism to report threats and not take “unilateral actions.”

Israeli airstrikes over southern Lebanon have intensified in recent weeks while Israel and the United States have pressured Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.

Israel asserts that the group is trying to rebuild its military strength. The Lebanese government, which supports disarming Hezbollah, has denied those claims. It also says troops have deployed to the south but that its cash-strapped army needs more resources.

In December, Hezbollah fired several rockets that landed on open territory near an Israeli military base and called it a “warning.” It was the only time it fired since a ceasefire ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in November last year.