Iran pledges retaliation for Israeli assassination of senior Hezbollah commander

Alsharq Tribune-Otaify 

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday vowed a "crushing response" to Israel over the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabtabai.

In a statement on its official news outlet, Sepah News, the IRGC condemned Israel's "brutal crime," saying Tabtabai was targeted in Beirut's southern suburbs in a "flagrant and terrorist" act. The statement added that "the resistance axis and Hezbollah" reserve the right to avenge the killing and that a decisive response would come "at the appropriate time."

At least five people, including Tabtabai, were killed and 28 others wounded in Sunday's Israeli airstrike on a residential apartment in Haret Hreik, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Iran's Foreign Ministry also condemned the strike in a statement on Monday, calling the attack a "brutal aggression" against Lebanon's territorial integrity and national sovereignty.