‘The Zionists should be worried’: Threats, anti-US chants at funeral of Hezbollah No. 2
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered Monday in southern Beirut for the funeral of the Iran-backed terror group’s military chief, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, a day after he was assassinated by the Israel Defense Forces in an airstrike in the Lebanese capital, with attendees threatening retaliation.
Those present walked by Tabatabai’s coffin, draped in the group’s yellow flag, as it was carried through the crowd. The burial of Tabatabai and two other Hezbollah members took place in a cemetery in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a densely populated area where Hezbollah holds sway, in which the terrorist organization’s fighters are traditionally laid to rest.
The crowd yelled slogans against Israel and the United States, while supporters carried portraits of Hezbollah’s leaders and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We will not leave our weapons! We will not leave our land!” the mourners chanted. Top Hezbollah political officials attended the funeral in person, but it was unclear if any military officials were present.
Hezbollah executive council head Sheikh Ali Daamoush said Israel should be wary of Hezbollah’s response.
Daamoush said: “The Zionists should be worried, because they’ve committed a grave crime against the resistance and against Lebanon.”
Referring to a potential diplomatic resolution to the tensions, Daamoush said: “We won’t concern ourselves with any proposals as long as the enemy doesn’t commit to the ceasefire agreement” that Israel and Hezbollah reached a year ago. Israel has accused Hezbollah of breaching the accord and says its strikes against the terror group are meant to prevent it from rearming.
Alluding to US and other countries’ pressure on Beirut to disarm Hezbollah, as outlined in the ceasefire agreement, Daamoush added: “It’s the state’s duty to defend its citizens and its sovereignty. The government needs to draw up plans for that and reject foreign diktats and pressure.”
A Hezbollah supporter at the funeral, Fatima Shehadeh, told the Associated Press that “no matter how much blood is shed, we will never surrender, and we will never hand over the weapons of the resistance.”
Israeli drones flew overhead during the funeral, Lebanese media reported, with footage showing the drones flying low over the area.
Tabatabai is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between the two sides, sparked when the terror group began firing rockets and drones at northern Israel a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Tabatabai was considered second only to Secretary-General Naim Qassem in Hezbollah’s command structure. He was killed in a targeted airstrike in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah’s main military and financial backer, called for “revenge” in a statement.
“The right of the Axis of Resistance and Lebanese Hezbollah to avenge the blood of the brave fighters of Islam is unquestionable,” it said, referring to Iran’s regional network of terror proxies.
In October 2024, Iran launched a missile barrage at Israel to avenge the killing of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other senior members. However, Iran has since been weakened by a 12-day war with Israel that saw nuclear sites and numerous other targets bombed, and scientists and officials killed.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on condition of anonymity that there were “two opinions within the group — those who wish to respond to the assassination and those who want to refrain from doing so — but the leadership tends to adopt the utmost forms of diplomacy at the present stage.”
Later Monday, Channel 12 cited unnamed security officials as similarly saying Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem was at a crossroads over how to respond.
Sources close to Hezbollah reportedly said the organization currently lacks the capability to launch a significant response, though they warned that the next conflict with Israel was “only a matter of time.”
According to the report, Israel has told the Lebanese government that it will continue efforts to weaken Hezbollah, urging cooperation in eradicating the group from the south of the Litani River and across Lebanon.
While Israel remains on high alert in the north, there has been no change in guidelines for Israeli residents.
Also on Monday, France’s foreign ministry expressed “deep concern” over the assassination, saying that it “increases the risk of escalation in an already highly tense situation.”
“France calls on all sides to exercise restraint,” the ministry continued in a statement. “It emphasizes the importance of using the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, which is designed for reporting threats. This framework, which all sides have recognized, is essential for preventing unilateral actions and ensuring the security of the civilian population in Lebanon and Israel, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement of November 27, 2024.”
عدد من المسيرات المسلحة الواضحة تحلق فوق الضاحية الجنوبية تزامناً مع التشييع pic.twitter.com/7P0RHISUlX
— مصدر مسؤول (@fouadkhreiss) November 24, 2025
Meanwhile, IDF artillery strikes were reported in southern Lebanon. The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese outlet Al-Akhbar reported that Israel launched munitions at the area of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, causing fires.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF.
Israel has been escalating its strikes on Hezbollah in recent weeks, accusing the terror group of violating the year-old ceasefire and increasingly attempting to rebuild its capabilities, and expressing frustration at lagging Lebanese efforts to disarm the group.
Israel says that under the terms of the ceasefire, it has the right to strike at Hezbollah threats.
