Photo credit: Aljazeera
An Israeli airstrike hit Beirut’s southern suburb on Tuesday. The Israeli army said it was a retaliatory attack for a cross-border attack three days earlier.
CBC reports that the Israeli military claimed to have killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and head of its strategic unit, Fuad Shukr, in the strike.
Shukr was the right-hand man to Hezbollah’s Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah and was his adviser for wartime operations.
“Fuad Shukr has directed Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since Oct. 8, according to the Israeli military. He was also said to have been responsible for the deaths of 12 children in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
However, Hezbollah denies the charges.
The US also blames Shukr for planning and launching the deadly 1983 Marine bombing in the Lebanese capital.
Earlier, a security source had told Reuters that the Israeli strike had failed to kill Hezbollah’s operations chief.
The strike hit an apartment building next to a hospital and it collapsed half of the targeted building. The hospital sustained minor damage, while the surrounding streets were littered with debris and broken glass. Paramedics could be seen carrying several injured people out of the damaged buildings.
