The Israeli military said it had succeeded in killing a top Hezbollah commander in a strike in Beirut on Tuesday who it said was responsible for a rocket attack that killed 12 children in Israel’s Golan Heights.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Said Warplanes struck an area of Beirut, killing Fouad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander and the right-hand man of Lebanese militia leader Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the IDF, Shukr was a top military operational planning adviser and directed Saturday’s Hezbollah attack on the city of Majdal Shams, which is dominated by the ethnic Druze religious minority group, that killed 12 children and wounded about 20 others.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the attack that day.
But she stressed that the United States remains hopeful that a diplomatic agreement can be reached between Israel and Hezbollah amid growing concerns that a larger war in Lebanon is fast approaching.
“I don’t believe all-out war is inevitable, I believe it can be avoided,” she told a news conference.
Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the IDF’s claims, but Iranian state media outlet Press TV Claimed Two people were killed and dozens injured, but Shukr was not among the dead.
Shukr headed Hezbollah’s strategic forces and was responsible for the Iran-backed militia’s military planning and advanced weaponry, including drones and precision-guided missiles.
According to the IDF, the suspect joined Hezbollah in 1985, planned military attacks against Israel in the 1990s and the abduction of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers in the 2000s, and rose to become a member of Hezbollah’s highest military forum, the Jihad Council.
Israel has killed around 300 Hezbollah fighters, including senior officials, in the roughly 10-month conflict linked to the Gaza war. Israeli attacks have previously targeted Beirut.
But Shukr’s death would be the biggest blow to the group since the conflict erupted on October 8, a day after Iran-backed Hamas launched a devastating surprise attack in southern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been under pressure to retaliate after Saturday’s Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams, particularly to show Israel stands by its Druze. He vowed that Hezbollah would pay a price, and his forces launched smaller attacks on Sunday and Monday. It is unclear whether Israel will retaliate again.
Hezbollah has not yet made any public statement about how it will respond to the Israeli attack, but analysts say the possibility of a full-scale war is growing as the fighting continues. Even a ceasefire in Gaza is unlikely to stop Israeli operations in Lebanon unless Hezbollah withdraws from the border and leaves a safe distance to allow the roughly 80,000 Israeli civilians it has displaced to return.
