Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
An Israeli airstrike killed the military commander of Hezbollah, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, on Nov. 23. At the time, as the leader of the IDF strike team said, Tabatabai was Israel’s “greatest enemy.” More on how the mission was planned for, and carried out, can be found here: “IAF pilots reveal rapid approvals, zero-mistake hit on Hezbollah military chief Ali Tabatabai,” by Amir Bohbot, Jerusalem Post, November 28, 2025:
Maj. “A” (27), a combat pilot and head of the Israel Air Force’s targeted-strike team, revealed in an interview with Walla on Friday how Hezbollah chief of staff Haytham Ali Tabatabai was eliminated in Beirut, saying it was a complex mission requiring lengthy preparations.
Maj. “A” said the team had planned the mission “for a long period,” noting “many cycles, many approvals,” and that he sought sign-offs “dozens of times” from the Israel Air Force commander. He described Tabatabai as the central target, citing the Hezbollah leader’s role in rebuilding the group’s military wing and spearheading a hard line against Israel.
“In my view, he is the most obstructive factor in Lebanon right now to reaching an agreement or a better situation in the arena,” Maj. “A” said. “Basically, he was our greatest enemy. We marked him as the main focal point, and his value was the highest.” He added that planners aimed for maximum precision, minimal harm to civilians, and strict deception and secrecy.
He said the exact timing was set only hours before execution, enabled by quality intelligence and a “mistake” by the senior Hezbollah figure when he arrived at a safe house.
“The day of the strike began like a regular day, until the decisive phone call,” he said, recalling how a call from his intelligence officer sent him “running back downstairs” to activate the system.
The approval chain moved unusually fast, he added, saying, “It was one of the fastest I have seen. Everyone knew the name, everyone knew the target.”
The strike, which occured at 2:43 p.m., targeted two floors in a ten-story building.
“The main dilemma is to align the munitions exactly where we want, without harming the other floors. We struck the fifth and the fourth floors,” he said, adding that each elimination blends deception, ruse, and intimate intelligence fusion.
“The moment I saw the munitions hit the target… I said, ‘That’s it, we did it,’” he said. “It is like a dream coming true after working on it for a long time. From the impacts, I knew our planning was one-to-one.” He described a “huge sense of satisfaction and pride in the corps.”…
The meticulous planning, over months, of the attack, the choice of pilots, planes, and munitions, and then the waiting for everything to fall into place in Lebanon, the breakneck speed with which the pilots finally got into their planes and took off when the word came that Tabatabai was now known to be in his apartment in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut, then the precision attack that was carefully limited to two floors so as to limit civilian casualties, all demonstrate the meticulousness and brilliance of the Israeli Air Force. Hassan Nasrallah is dead. Hashem Safieddine is dead. Haytham Ali Tabatabai is dead. Now who, in Hezbollah, wishes to step up to replace Tabatabai? What — no takers? We understand.
