An Israeli air strike targeted a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut’s southern suburbs late Tuesday, in what the Israeli military described as retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack three days earlier that killed 12 children and teenagers.
Fuad Shukr: the man who killed 12 children in a soccer field on Saturday and is responsible of 30 years of Hezbollah terrorist attacks. pic.twitter.com/RuHO0W2py6
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 30, 2024
A loud blast was heard, and a plume of smoke was seen rising above the southern suburbs—a Hezbollah stronghold—at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), according to a Reuters witness. A senior Lebanese security source confirmed that a senior Hezbollah commander was the target of the air strike, but his fate remains unclear. Lebanon’s state-run national news agency reported that the air strike targeted the area around Hezbollah’s Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of the capital.
Beirut has been on edge for days, anticipating an Israeli attack in reprisal for the rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, which killed 12 youngsters playing on a football field in a Druze village. Hezbollah has denied involvement in that attack.
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.
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 reported 15 projectiles fired across the Lebanese border within the past few hours, impacting 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, the military added. As diplomats sought to contain the fallout, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe a fight was inevitable between Hezbollah and Israel, though he remained concerned about the potential for escalation.
Hezbollah and Israel, which last fought a major war in 2006, have been trading fire since the Gaza war erupted in October, with Hezbollah firing at Israeli targets in solidarity with the Palestinians. The hostilities have mostly been limited to the frontier region, and both sides have indicated they do not seek a wider confrontation, even as the conflict raises concerns about the risk of a broader war.
In the latest exchanges of fire on Tuesday, the Israeli military reported that 10 rockets were fired from Lebanon, with one hitting Kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty. Israel’s ambulance service said a 30-year-old man died of shrapnel wounds. Israel stated it hit about 10 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight, killing one Hezbollah fighter. Hezbollah confirmed the death of one of its fighters.
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