Hezbollah has confirmed that one of its top military commanders has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
On Wednesday evening, the Iran-backed group reported that the body of Fuad Shukr had been found in the rubble of a building that was hit on Tuesday.
Four other people were killed in the attack, including two children. Earlier, the Israeli military said Shukr had been targeted in an “intelligence-based elimination.”
The organization said the attack was in response to a rocket attack that killed 12 people on Saturday in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel said the commander was involved in planning the attack.
Hezbollah denies any involvement.
Fuad Shukr, in his early 60s, is seen as a key military adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The attack targeted a building in Haret Hreik, a neighborhood in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.
It is a fortified, densely populated area. Dahiyeh itself is surrounded by Hezbollah checkpoints.
The children killed in the airstrike were a 10-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister. Shukr will be buried on Thursday, the statement said.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the attack a “criminal act”.
An Israeli response to Saturday’s rocket attack on the Golan was widely expected, with the country’s security cabinet authorizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to decide how to respond.
Retaliation from Hezbollah is now almost certain. In the past, the heavily armed, Iranian-backed group has responded to the killings of senior members by firing rockets into Israel.
Shortly before Hezbollah’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a televised address in which he acknowledged that “difficult times lie ahead.”
He added: “Since the strike in Beirut, threats have been coming from all sides. We are prepared for any scenario.”
On Wednesday morning, the political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, which is also supported by Iran, was killed in an attack in the Iranian capital.
Israel has not yet commented but has vowed to destroy Hamas after its October 7 attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people.
Fears of a regional war have led to international calls for all sides to exercise restraint.
There have been frequent clashes between Hezbollah and Israel, but hostilities have escalated since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Hezbollah, which supports Hamas, opened a second limited front in northern Israel and the two sides have been exchanging fire ever since.
Although it has not yet reached all-out war, there are almost daily attacks that devastate communities in Israel and Lebanon.
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