Hezbollah confirmed the death of its “number two” commander, who orchestrated one of the deadliest days in history for the US Marine Corps, following the Israel Defense Forces’ attack on Beirut.
“The latest information from Beirut is that he appears to have died from his injuries after being taken to a hospital for treatment,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We must also remember that this is an individual who was involved in the 1983 Marine barracks bombing and who certainly has American blood on his hands.”
Fouad Shukr had a $5 million bounty on his head for his involvement in the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. service members and injured 128. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that Shukr was killed in the attack, but Hezbollah initially denied his death, saying only that he had been in a building destroyed by the IDF attack.
A day later, Hezbollah confirmed Shukr’s death on its Telegram account, adding that its leader Hassan Nasrallah would speak at Shukr’s funeral on Thursday.
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“Shukr has American and Israeli blood on his hands. That cannot be ignored,” Behnam Ben Taleb, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. “Shukr was a jack-of-all-trades for Hezbollah as a terrorist, engineer, spy and someone who explicitly espoused anti-Israeli and anti-American ideals.”
Hezbollah announced on its official Telegram account that Fouad Shukr, who had a $5 million bounty on his head for his role in the 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, was killed in an IDF attack in Beirut on Tuesday. (Hezbollah Telegram account)
“The attack is aimed at disrupting Hezbollah in Lebanon, not destroying it,” Taleblu added. “It will increase the costs for the Iranian-backed terrorist organization to operate in Lebanon.”
The IDF strike came in retaliation for an attack over the weekend in Israel’s Golan Heights that killed 12 young people, but while Hezbollah continues to deny any involvement in the attack, the IDF identified Shukr as the mastermind behind it.
Lebanese volunteer rescuers remove the body of a U.S. Marine from the rubble of a U.S. Marine barracks following a terrorist truck bomb attack on October 23, 1983. (Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hailed Shukur’s death, saying it proved “the blood of our people has a price, and there is nowhere our troops cannot reach for this purpose.” Shukur’s death marks the highest-ranking military death in a year.
A worker walks through rubble as a backhoe removes debris from a building damaged by an Israeli air strike in the southern outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday evening. (AP/Hussein Marra)
Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing medical and security sources, that one woman and two children were killed in the IDF attack.
The US State Department issued a Level 4 “do not travel” advisory for Lebanon, citing “escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel,” adding that Americans already in Lebanon “should be prepared to evacuate if the situation worsens.”
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“The U.S. Embassy strongly encourages U.S. nationals already in southern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, and/or in refugee settlements to leave,” the advisory added.
A building damaged by an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Marra)
The UN warned of further escalation of tensions between the two sides, saying the focus needed to be on rescuing the hostages and expanding humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, which could be facilitated by “the restoration of calm in Lebanon and on the other side of the Blue Line.”
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“Instead, we are seeing efforts to undermine those goals,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a press release. “The Secretary-General has always called for the utmost restraint from all, but in these extremely delicate moments, it is becoming increasingly clear that restraint alone will not be enough.”
“The Secretary-General calls on all to work actively towards de-escalating tensions in the region, in the interest of long-term peace and stability for all,” Dujarric added. “The international community must urgently work together to prevent any actions that could plunge the entire Middle East into crisis, with devastating consequences for civilians.”
