Israel says top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr killed in airstrike in Beirut suburb
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah's most senior military commander, in a rare strike in Beirut, raising the stakes in the escalating tensions with the Lebanese militant group. Israeli officials said the militant commander was behind the deaths of 12 children and teens in a weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights as well as the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians in previous rocket strikes on northern Israel.
"Israeli Air Force fighter jets eliminated the Hezbollah terrorist organization's most senior military commander and the head of its Strategic Unit, Fuad Shukr 'Sayyid Muhsan,' in the area of Beirut," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that Shukr served as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's right-hand man and wartime operations adviser.
Nasrallah wrote on social media shortly after Tuesday's strike that the "assassination attempt" had failed, but Hezbollah said Wednesday that it was searching for Shukr's body.
"Hezbollah crossed a red line," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on the platform X shortly after the strike. Later Tuesday, Gallant wrote that Shukr "has the blood of many Israelis on his hands. Tonight, we have shown that the blood of our people has a price, and that there is no place out of reach for our forces to this end."
Shukr was also wanted by U.S. authorities.
The State Department announced a $5 million reward in 2017 for information leading to his location or arrest in any country, saying he played "a key role in Hizballah's military operations in Syria, and he helped plan and launch the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 of our Marines."
According to the AFP news agency, Lebanon's health ministry issued an initial toll of "one female civilian killed and 68 civilians injured, five of them critically." Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said 17 wounded were taken to the private Bahman Hospital, while 14 were taken to Hezbollah's Rasoul Aazam hospital. Bahman Hospital, which is near the site of the strike, called on people to donate blood.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately release a statement, but minutes after the strike sent a photo of the prime minister with his national security adviser and other officials.
A Hezbollah official and the group's TV station said that an Israeli airstrike hit Hezbollah's stronghold south of Beirut on Tuesday evening, causing damage.
An Israeli official confirmed to CBS News that Israel notified the U.S. about the strike.
"We defer to Israel to speak to its own military operations," deputy spokesperson for the U.S. State Department Vedant Patel said in a statement. "Our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad and unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including Hezbollah, and we are working on a diplomatic solution that will allow citizens to safely return to their homes."
Patel added at a Tuesday afternoon news conference that U.S officials "do not believe that all-out war is inevitable and we still believe that it can be avoided."
Speaking to reporters in Atlanta after the Israeli strikes, Vice President Kamala Harris said she "unequivocally" supports Israel's right to remain secure and "to defend itself against a terrorist organization, which is exactly what Hezbollah is."
"But all of that being said," Harris added, "we still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks, and we will continue to do that work."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned the strike on "a residential building" in Beirut, saying that Israel and the U.S. will be responsible for the "expansion of the scope of tension and crisis in the region."
Hamas also denounced what it described as "the brutal Zionist aggression against Lebanon," claiming that the strike resulted in the death and injury of "a number of innocent citizens."
"In the face of this brutal aggression against Lebanon, we hold the U.S. administration responsible for the crimes and ongoing violations of the occupation," Hamas said in a statement.
Andrew Boyd, the former chief of operations for the CIA's Counterterrorism Mission Center and a CBS News contributor, said that the retaliatory attack took place in a crowded Beirut suburb because Hezbollah's headquarters are located there.
"I think the big difference this past weekend was an attack that killed 12 children between the ages of 12 and 16, as I understand it," he said, adding that the victims were non-Jewish citizens of Israel and noting that Shukr had also been on the U.S.'s most wanted list.
"Israel also had an obligation to protect civilian lives in the city of Beirut," Boyd said, "but again, I don't know if that is going to be an issue with this particular strike." He cautioned that reports of casualties were still emerging.
Pointing to Israeli evacuations from areas close to Lebanon and Gaza, Boyd said, "I think the overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens are sick of that and they want these threats to be eliminated."
Meanwhile, tensions remained high in Israel as soldiers were due to appear before a military court Tuesday over what a defense lawyer said were allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at a facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war.
Hard-line nationalists in Netanyahu's government and others have protested. An investigation by The Associated Press has exposed abysmal conditions at Sde Teiman, where most of the thousands detained in Gaza have been held. Israeli authorities have generally denied abuses in detention facilities for Palestinians.