Israel says it killed senior Hezbollah commander in airstrike on Beirut

Beirut/Jerusalem/Manila: Israel says it has killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs late, that also killed at least one woman and two children as well as wounded dozens of others in escalating hostilities with the Lebanese terrorist group.

Head of Hezbollah’s strategic unit, Fuad Shukr, known also as “Sayyid Muhsan,” served as the right-hand man to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and was his adviser for wartime operations, the Israeli military said in a statement.

This wanted poster released by the U.S. Department of State Rewards for Justice program shows Talal Hamiyah, left, and Fuad Shukr.Credit: AP

“Fuad Shukr has directed Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since October 8th,” the statement added, saying he was responsible for the death of 12 children in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

A loud blast was heard and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs – a stronghold of the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah – about 7.40pm (Wednesday 2.40am AEST), a Reuters witness said.

The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at Shukr, whom the US also blamed for planning and launching the deadly 1983 Marine bombing in the Lebanese capital.

Hezbollah did not immediately confirm the commander’s death. The Israeli strike killed a woman and two children and wounded dozens of other people in escalating hostilities with the Lebanese terrorist group.

People walk near the building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday.Credit: AP

Beirut has been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in reprisal for the rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday that killed the 12 youngsters in a football field in a Druze village. Hezbollah has denied involvement in that attack.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said that his government condemned the Israeli strike and planned to file a complaint to the United Nations. He said he hoped any response by Hezbollah, whose heartland is in those southern suburbs, would not trigger an escalation.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had conducted “a targeted strike in Beirut on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians”. Details would follow.

Two men use their phone light, as they check a house on a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut.Credit: AP

The United Nations’ special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement that she was “deeply concerned” by the strike and called for “calm to prevail.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris said Israel “has the right to defend itself against the terrorist organisation,” referring to Hezbollah, but added, “We still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks, and we will continue to do that work.”Earlier on Tuesday, more rocket fire from south Lebanon killed a civilian in a kibbutz in northern Israel, medics said.

Shortly before the explosion in south Beirut, the Israeli military said 15 projectiles had been fired across the Lebanese border within the past few hours, with impacts in parts of the Upper Galilee region. No injuries were reported.

Israel’s air force had just hit a Hezbollah observation post and “terror infrastructure” in south Lebanon, it added.

A man inspects a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike.Credit: AP

Concerns about escalation

As diplomats sought to contain the fallout, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe a fight between Hezbollah and Israel was inevitable, although he remained concerned about the potential for escalation.

Hezbollah and Israel, which last fought each other in a major war in 2006, have been trading fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, after Hezbollah began firing at Israeli targets in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.

The hostilities have mostly been limited to the frontier region and both sides have previously indicated they do not seek a wider confrontation even as the conflict has prompted worry about the risk of a slide towards war.

In the latest exchanges of fire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and one hit Kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty. Israel’s ambulance service said the 30-year-old male died of shrapnel wounds.

Israel said it hit about 10 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight and killed one Hezbollah fighter in attacks that appeared to be in keeping with the pattern of the past nine months. Hezbollah confirmed one of its fighters was killed.

Lebanon’s public health ministry said Tuesday’s strike in a southern suburb of Beirut wounded 74 people, some of them seriously. The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals.

Reuters, AP

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