India, Nov. 24 -- Israel on Sunday killed Hezbollah's top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, in an air strike on the outskirts of Beirut, a rare targeted operation carried out despite a year-long ceasefire.

Israel's military first announced the strike, and Hezbollah later confirmed his death, describing him as "the great jihadist commander" who had "worked to confront the Israeli enemy until the last moment of his blessed life," reported news agency Reuters.

The killing comes nearly a year after a US-brokered truce ended the intense 2023-24 war, during which Israel had already eliminated most of the Iran-backed group's senior leadership.

Tabtabai, however, was one of the few remaining high-ranking figures to survive the conflict,...