Massive Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's Basta: Was Hezbollah's Mohammad Haidar the target?

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

As the clock neared 4 a.m. on Saturday, Beirut was draped in calm, with the city’s residents fast asleep. However, that peace would soon shatter as massive airstrikes from Israeli fighter jets hit Mamoun Street in the Basta area.

The strikes leveled a six-story building, killing about 20 people so far, and injuring dozens more.

Beirut's residents awoke to chaos, and so did the media—especially Israeli outlets. The burning question on everyone's mind: Who was the target?

Several names circulated in the Israeli media, from Hezbollah’s Jihad Council member Talal Hamieh to its Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem.

As the dust from the attack began to settle, Israeli media identified Mohammad Haidar as the target.

AFP, citing a Lebanese security source, reported that a senior Hezbollah leader was targeted, but the source did not confirm whether the individual survived.

However, Hezbollah denied that any member of the party was in the building at the time of the strike.

Who is Mohammad Haidar, the person Israeli media claims was the target of the operation?

Known as Abu Ali, Haidar served as the head of Hezbollah’s operations department and was a member of its Jihad Council. He was elected as an MP to Lebanon's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc from 2005 to 2009.

His responsibilities expanded after the assassinations of Imad Mughniyeh in 2008 and Mustafa Badreddine in 2016. Recently, his name emerged as one of the key figures leading Hezbollah militarily against Israel, following the killings of top-level party leaders.

If Haidar was indeed killed, it would mark the loss of the fifth member of the party's Jihad Council, leaving only two members: Talal Hamieh, commander of Unit 910 responsible for secret external operations, and Khodor Youssef Nader, in charge of the party’s security unit.

Whether or not Haidar was assassinated remains the central story, but the broader Israeli aggression on Beirut adds to Israel's long record of crimes.