by Gadi Zaig, Reuters
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.
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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," according to the United States Rewards for Justice.
Shukr was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's military 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. Shukar also goes by the names "Hajj Mohsen" and "Muhsin Shukr."
Shukr was sanctioned by the United States in 2015.
Directly after the strike, 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, but also reported that Shukr survived the attack. Two security sources told Reuters also of Shukr's survival. The Jerusalem Post is unable to confirm Shukr's fate.
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.
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Casualties in strike
A correspondent for Al-Mayadeen, a news source affiliated with Hezbollah, said that the strike in the city was in a densely populated area and that there were about 10 wounded - not clarifying if those wounded were civilians or terrorists. State media, on the other hand, said that one woman was killed and seven people were wounded.
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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.
Commenting on the Beirut strike, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X, formerly Twitter, stating that "Hezbollah crossed the red line."
The US State Department said on Tuesday that the United States will continue pursuing diplomacy to avert an escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
"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.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the US does not believe war between Hezbollah and Israel is inevitable.
Shkur played a central role in the October 23, 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps Barracks in the Lebanese capital that killed 241 American military personnel and wounded 128 others, according to the US Rewards for Justice.
An Israeli strike on Lebanon's capital, Beirut, is "a flagrant violation of international law," the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Iran also condemned the strike, calling it "sinful and cowardly," according to their embassy in Lebanon.
Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said that his government condemned the Israeli strike that hit the southern suburbs of the capital and planned to file a complaint to the United Nations.
He told Reuters he hoped any response by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, whose heartland is in those southern suburbs, would not trigger an escalation.
The Hamas terrorist organization also condemned the strike, calling it a "dangerous escalation." The Houthis also condemned the attack, calling it a "blatant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty."
Gadi Zaig, Reuters
Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-812577
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