MOSCOW, July 31 A senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, was killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Beirut, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday night.
A Lebanese security source had previously told Sky News Arabia that Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr had been killed in an Israeli strike.
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"The IDF announces that Israeli fighter jets have killed the highest-ranking commander and head of the terrorist organization's strategic unit, Hezbollah, in a targeted strike based on intelligence data. Fouad Shukr or Seyyed Muhsen in the Beirut area,» the army said in a statement.
According to the Israeli army, Shukr was the «right hand» of the organization's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, and an adviser on planning and managing military operations. Hezbollah itself has not yet confirmed Shukr's death.
The United States imposed sanctions on Shukr in 2015. Washington, according to the Rewards for Justice website, has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information about him. According to the website, interest in him is linked to his high-ranking position in Hezbollah and his involvement in a number of attacks against American targets. In particular, we are talking about the explosion of the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, which killed more than 240 American soldiers.
Earlier on Tuesday, the IDF launched an attack on Beirut. As specified, the target was a commander «responsible for the murder of children and Israeli civilians in Majdal Shams.» According to the correspondent, the area near Bahman Hospital in the Haret Hreik area of a southern suburb of Beirut was hit.
In turn, the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported that the attack was carried out by a drone that fired three missiles. According to the latest information, three people were killed and 74 were injured.
On the evening of July 27, the city of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights was hit by a rocket attack. Twelve people were killed — children and teenagers. The Israeli side blamed the attack on the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would not leave the attack unanswered.
Hezbollah said that it denied involvement in the shelling. Despite this, Israeli officials began to declare that war with Lebanon was imminent.