Deadly Israeli airstrike targets, misses Hezbollah commander in Beirut

July 30 (UPI) — Israel Defense Forces officials say an nighttime airstrike Tuesday killed the Hezbollah commander who ordered the rocket attack that killed 12 Israeli children in the Golan Heights Saturday.

“The IDF targeted in Beirut the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams,” the IDF said Tuesday in a statement.

The targeted Hezbollah commander is Fuad Shukr, a senior Lebanese official told CNN.

IDF leaders said they succeeded in killing Shukr, but Hezbollah denies he is dead and said the strike killed a woman, a boy and a girl.

The drone-launched airstrike hit a building housing the Hezbollah command center in Beirut and caused it to collapse, local officials said.

Officials for Lebanon, Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis condemned the Israeli airstrike.

The IDF notified the United States in advance of the airstrike.

An alleged Hezbollah rocket attack Saturday landed in a soccer field near a playground and killed 12 children and injured many more.

Hezbollah leaders denied they launched the rocket attack, but the IDF said it tracked the deadly rocket from a within Lebanon near the southern border with Israel.

Saturday’s rocket attack was the deadliest Hezbollah has launched against Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 civilians and kidnapped 250 more.

Hezbollah on July 3 launched an estimated 200 rockets into Israel in retaliation for Israel killing a Hezbollah leader.

A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson on Tuesday affirmed the United States’ support for Israel.

“Our commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad and unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including Lebanese Hezbollah,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in an online statement.

Watson also confirmed Hezbollah is responsible for the deadly rocket attack in the Golan Heights Saturday.

“The attack by Lebanese Hezbollah this weekend, which killed 12 children and teenagers playing soccer, was horrific,” Watson said. “Israel has a right to defend itself against the severe threats it faces.”

Watson said U.S. officials will continue working to find a diplomatic solution to end the attacks in the Middle East.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have increased since the Oct. 7, raising concerns that the Israel-Hamas war might escalate into Lebanon, where Hezbollah is located.

While Watson affirms the United States’ continued support of Israel, a special coordinator for the United Nations said U.N. officials are “deeply concerned” about the rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

The U.N. is urging leaders in Israel and Lebanon to “avail [themselves] of all diplomatic avenues” to end hostilities, U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement Tuesday.

The U.S. State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information on Shukr, who also is known as al-Hajj Mohsin, and is a senior adviser to Hezbollah leaders.

He also serves on the Jihad Council, which is Hezbollah’s highest military body, and “played a central role” in planning the deadly Oct. 23, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. military members and wounded 128 more, according to the State Department.

The Department of State has designated Hezbollah and Hamas as foreign terrorist organizations.

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