By Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT, July 31 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that senior commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital, making him the most senior figure from the group to be killed in nearly 10 months of conflict with Israel.
The strike hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, at dusk on Tuesday. It was the second time that the area had been struck since October, when Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire in parallel with the Gaza War.
Israel’s military announced late on Tuesday it had killed Shukr, whom it named as Hezbollah’s most senior commander and whom it blamed for an attack on July 27 that left a dozen youngsters dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Iran-backed Hezbollah denied any involvement in the Golan attack.
The strike on Beirut happened hours before the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the early hours of Wednesday in Iran, in a development that has further fanned fears of wider regional escalation. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas.
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Hezbollah said that its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah would speak on Thursday on the occasion of Shukr’s funeral.
Shukr was an adviser to Nasrallah, according to Hezbollah sources and the Israeli military’s announcement of his killing.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said 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’s body was found under the rubble on Wednesday evening, two Lebanese security sources said, nearly 24 hours after the strike.
At least two women and two children were also killed, medical and security sources said.
‘WE ARE UP FOR IT’
The attack appeared to have shorn off the top corner of a multi-storey building and scattered bits of charred debris onto the surrounding buildings and streets.
Lebanese ministers and lawmakers visited the scene on Wednesday. Speaking from the ruins, Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Ammar condemned the strike on Dahiyeh as well as the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has made no comment on Haniyeh’s assassination.
“This enemy (Israel) demands war and we are up for it, God willing, we are up for it,” Ammar said.
Lebanon’s cabinet held an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the strike on Beirut and issued a statement read to reporters by Information Minister Ziad Makary.
Makary condemned the strike and said retaliation by Hezbollah was anticipated but that the government was worried the situation could “spiral”.
“Lebanon does not want war,” he said, adding that the government would engage in diplomatic efforts to calm tensions.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam; Editing by Tom Hogue, Andrew Heavens and Gareth Jones)
