Tabataba’i’s death will exacerbate Hezbollah’s debate over how to respond to Israel’s strikes in Lebanon—a conversation the deceased official himself was engaged in. Recently, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem ramped up his rhetoric,

The assassination of Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the militia’s number two, exacerbates the group’s weakness and leaves it paralyzed over how to respond