Israel’s military kills senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a Beirut airstrike in retaliation for a deadly rocket attack. The incident escalates tensions in the region.
Israel, Bollywood Fever: Israel’s military claimed it killed Hezbollah’s most senior commander in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday, in retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack that killed 12 youngsters three days ago, which it blamed on the Lebanese armed group.
A loud blast was heard, and a plume of smoke rose above Beirut’s southern suburbs—a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah—at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), a Reuters witness reported. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed the strike killed Fuad Shukr, stating, “Tonight, we have shown that the blood of our people has a price, and that there is no place out of reach for our forces to this end.”
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah. The group has denied involvement in the rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, which killed 12 youths on a football field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams.
A senior security source from another country in the region confirmed Shukr had died from wounds sustained in the strike. Israel’s military identified Shukr as the key aide to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, his adviser for wartime operations, and the mastermind behind Saturday’s attack.
The Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs also resulted in the deaths of three civilians, including two children, according to medical and security sources. Lebanon’s Al Manar TV, citing the Lebanese health ministry, reported 74 people injured along with three fatalities in the attack near Hezbollah’s Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighborhood.
Reuters footage showed a multi-story building in the southern suburb with a corner sheared off. Charred debris littered the streets below, where crowds gathered to chant in support of the Hezbollah leader.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the Golan Heights attack but acknowledged firing rockets at a military target in the area. The killing of the youths prompted high-level Western diplomatic efforts to prevent a major escalation that could inflame the wider Middle East.
UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called for calm and urged Israel and Lebanon to explore diplomatic solutions to end hostilities. “There is no such thing as a military solution,” she emphasized in a statement.
Tuesday’s strike on Beirut drew widespread condemnation from Lebanese officials and Hezbollah’s regional allies, including Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, Syria, and Iran, which supports all three groups.
The White House, which also attributed Saturday’s attack to Hezbollah, reiterated its commitment to Israel’s security against “all Iran-backed threats including Hezbollah” and mentioned ongoing diplomatic efforts.
The Israeli military issued no new civil defense instructions, indicating no immediate plans for further strikes. Channel 12 TV quoted an unnamed official suggesting that, depending on Hezbollah’s reaction, the Beirut strike might conclude Israel’s response to the Golan Heights attack.
Throughout the day, approximately 25 rockets were launched from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, the Israeli military reported. Medics confirmed that a 30-year-old man in the community of Kibbutz Hagoshrim was killed.
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, condemned the Israeli strike and announced plans to file a complaint with the United Nations. “We were not expecting them to hit Beirut and they hit Beirut,” he told Reuters, expressing hope that Hezbollah’s response would not escalate the situation further.
Earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed concern about potential escalation but did not believe a fight between Hezbollah and Israel was inevitable. Since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire, with hostilities mostly confined to the frontier region, as both sides have indicated they do not seek a wider confrontation.
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