Hezbollah says top commander Shukr was in building hit by Israel

Beirut, Lebanon — AFP

Hezbollah has said that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was inside the building in Beirut’s southern suburbs hit by Israel the other day and that his fate was still unknown.

The Israeli military claimed that its Tuesday strike had “eliminated” Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander it said was responsible for carrying out a weekend rocket attack on the annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 people.

Hezbollah said in a statement that “the great jihadic commander brother Fuad Shukr (Hajj Mohsen) was present” in the building targeted by “the Zionist enemy”.

Rescue teams “have been working since the incident happened… to remove the rubble… and we are still waiting for the results of this operation regarding the fate of the great commander and other citizens” who were also in the building, the statement said.

In a provisional toll, Lebanon’s health ministry said 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 “right-hand man” to the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah.

In 2017, the US Treasury offered $5 million for information on Shukr, in his early sixties, describing him as “a senior adviser” to Nasrallah.

The Treasury said he had “a central role” in the deadly 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for Saturday’s deadly rocket strike on the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed a “severe” response to the strike.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 534 people, including women and children.