The city has been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in retaliation in Majdal Shams, where Israel and the United States have blamed Hezbollah for the attack.
By GADI ZAIG, REUTERS
JULY 30, 2024 19:50
Updated: JULY 30, 2024 20:59
The IDF struck Beirut on Tuesday afternoon, targeting a Hezbollah commander who was responsible for the strike on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights a few days earlier that killed 12 Israeli Druze children and teenagers, the military announced.
The name of the commander targeted was Fuad Shukr. The Hezbollah official had a $5 million bounty "on his head," Israeli media outlet Ynet reported. Shukr was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's close adviser and has been active in the terrorist organization for 30 years, where he was the head of the terrorist group's operations room, three senior security sources told Reuters, saying that his fate remained unknown. Shukar also goes by the name "Hajj Mohsen."
Shukr was sanctioned by the United States in 2015. He also went but the name Muhsin Shukr.
A loud blast was heard, and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital as a result of the strike, a stronghold of the Lebanese terrorist group.
Two people were killed in the attack, according to Saudi news source Al-Hadath.
The city has been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in retaliation in Majdal Shams, where Israel and the United States have blamed Hezbollah for the attack. Hezbollah has denied responsibility.
Casualties in strike
A correspondent for Al-Mayadeen, a source affiliated with the terrorist group, said that the strike in the city was in a densely populated area and that there were about 10 wounded - not clarifying if those injured were civilians or terrorists. State media, on the other hand, said that one woman was killed and seven people were wounded.
The correspondent also claimed that the strike was at a residential building adjacent to the Bahman Hospital.
Lebanon's state-run national news agency said the strike targeted the area around Hezbollah's Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of the capital.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant commented on the strike on X, stating simply that "Hezbollah crossed the red line."
The United States will continue pursuing diplomacy to avert an escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, the State Department said on Tuesday.
"We're continuing to work toward a diplomatic resolution that would allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes and live in peace and security. We certainly want to avoid any kind of escalation," State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a briefing.
He reiterated that US support for Israel remained "ironclad" as the Jewish state confronts threats from Iran and its "malign proxy groups" like Hezbollah.
"Israel has every right to defend itself" and "certainly faces threats like no other country does in that region of the world," he said.
