Israel ‘kills top Hezbollah commander’ Fuad Shukr

Israel says it has “eliminated” Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a massive strike on the militant group’s stronghold in southern Beirut.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets “eliminated” Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, accusing him of being responsible for a rocket strike on the annexed Golan Heights.

“Israeli air force fighter jets eliminated the Hezbollah terrorist organisation’s most senior military commander and the head of its strategic unit, Fuad Shukr, in the area of Beirut,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

He is considered the right-hand man of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah and the IDF says he has directed attacks on Israel.

Israel says it has “eliminated” Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. Picture: X

Israel’s deadly air strike on Tuesday (local time) in the Lebanese capital of Beirut comes days after 12 children were killed in an attack which has been blamed on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised to retaliate for the killings in the occupied Golan Heights region.

It is not known if further Israeli strikes will follow.

There are fears months of skirmishes between Israeli and the Lebanon based Hezbollah, which supports Hamas in Gaza, could topple over into all out war.

Israel said it wanted to send “a very strong message” but war could be avoids dependent on Hezbollah’s response.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris said Israel had the right to defend itself.

UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert expressed concern about the strike in the “densely populated” area and warned there was no “military solution” to the conflict.

Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati described the attack as a “criminal act” and said it clearly violated international law.

Hezbollah is yet to respond to the strike, and it is unclear as to whether it will feel forced to retaliate.

A photo taken on July 30 shows the destroyed top floors of an eight storey building following an Israeli military strike in Beirut. Picture: Anwar Amro/AFP

Loud bang

Witnesses told AFP they heard a loud bang and saw plumes of smoke rising. Several floors of a building have been destroyed.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP two people were killed in Tuesday’s Israeli strike on the southern Beirut suburbs which are a stronghold for the group.

“Israel has struck the Beirut southern suburb. Two people were killed in the Israeli strike,” said the source requesting anonymity after earlier saying the target was a “leading commander” of the group.

Two people are said to have died in the strike. Picture: AFP

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said “an enemy raid targeted near Hezbollah’s Shura Council,” the powerful Lebanese group’s decision-making body in Beirut’s Haret Hreik suburb.

The country’s foreign minister Abdallah Bouhabib urged Hezbollah’s response to be “proportionate” to avoid an escalation.

On Saturday, a strike on the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights killed 12 children. It was blamed by Israel and the United States on Hezbollah, although the Iran-backed group has denied any connection to the attack.

During a visit on Monday to Majdal Shams, Mr Netanyahu vowed a “severe response”, raising fears yet again that the Gaza war could spill over into a wider regional conflagration.

The US and other nations had been pushing Israel to moderate its response including potentially not hitting bustling Beirut, avoiding the city’s airport, port and not targeting other major Lebanese infrastructure such as power stations and highways.

Speaking on Tuesday in Washington DC, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden “believes (war) can be avoided”.

“We have to continue to be optimistic here, I think it’s important to have a diplomatic solution. We do not want to see an escalation, we do not want to see an all-out war.”

Originally published as Israel ‘kills top Hezbollah commander’ Fuad Shukr