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Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, said on Friday that senior commander Haitham al-Tabtabai, who was recently killed in an Israeli strike, had spent nine years in Yemen, during which he trained and prepared Houthi forces.
This marks the first official acknowledgment by Hezbollah’s leadership of the true extent of its military role in the Yemen war.
Qassem, speaking in a video address during a memorial ceremony held for Tabtabai, who was killed this month in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, said the slain commander had “left an important mark in Yemen.” He revealed that Tabtabai’s presence there spanned from 2015 to 2024.
This timeframe carries highly significant military and political implications, indicating that Hezbollah’s military expertise was involved in operational management, strategic planning and technical development for the Houthi movement throughout the years of conflict in Yemen.
Last Sunday, the Israeli military announced that Hezbollah’s “chief of staff,” Haitham al-Tabtabai, had been killed in a “precision” airstrike targeting an apartment in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Hezbollah later confirmed his death, stating that he was the group’s top military official.
Tabtabai led Hezbollah’s special forces unit, which is responsible for carrying out external operations in Syria and Yemen.
He is also among the figures listed on international terrorism registers. In 2016, the United States designated him as a “global terrorist” and announced a reward of $5 million for information leading to him.
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