Beirut: On Wednesday, Hezbollah announced that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was present in the building struck by Israeli forces in Beirut’s southern suburbs the previous day. The group revealed that Shukr’s fate remains unknown.
The Israeli military reported that its strike on Tuesday had “eliminated” Shukr, a high-ranking Hezbollah commander whom they accused of orchestrating a weekend rocket attack on the Golan Heights. This attack, according to Israel, resulted in the deaths of 12 children.
Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that “the great jihadist commander brother Fuad Shukr (Hajj Mohsen) was present” in the building targeted by the “Zionist enemy”.
The statement continued, noting that rescue teams have been working since the attack to clear the rubble and ascertain the fate of Shukr and other civilians who were in the building. According to a provisional toll from Lebanon’s health ministry, three civilians—a woman and two children—were killed in the strike.
The Israeli army has described Shukr as Hezbollah’s “most senior military commander” and a key ally to the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
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In 2017, the US Treasury offered a $5 million reward for information on Shukr, who is in his early sixties. The Treasury labeled him as “a senior adviser” to Nasrallah and noted his “central role” in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the recent rocket attack on the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, although the group claimed responsibility for multiple strikes on Israeli military positions on the same day.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “severe” response to the attack that resulted in civilian casualties.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered a conflict in Gaza, Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has been involved in near-daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces. The violence has resulted in at least 534 deaths on the Lebanese side, including 108 civilians, as reported by AFP. On the Israeli side, including the Golan Heights, at least 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.
