The body of one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders has been found in rubble in the southern Beirut suburb attacked by Israel, two Lebanese security sources said, Reuters reports.
Hezbollah previously refused to confirm Israel’s claim that it had killed Fuad Shukr, described as ‘the right-hand man’ of their leader Hassan Nasrallah, on Tuesday night.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) blamed him for an attack on Saturday that left 12 children and teenagers dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – Hezbollah denied involvement.
Hezbollah’s long-awaited statement on Shukr came on Wednesday, saying Israel had attacked a residential building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold for the group, and that “a number of citizens” had been killed and others wounded.
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Police members remove the rubble at a damaged site the day after an Israeli strike, in Beirut.
Pic: Reuters
It said Shukr “was present in this building at the time” but that the group was still awaiting definitive results on his
fate.
The Lebanese health ministry said two children and two women had been killed and 74 people injured in Beirut.
If his death is officially confirmed, Shukr would be the most senior Hezbollah commander to have been killed in the latest clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
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Sky’s Alex Crawford reports from the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, as Lebanese emergency workers worked to clear the rubble.
Israel and Hezbollah started trading fire on 8 October, a day after Hamas, the militant group running Gaza and which has deep ties to Hezbollah, killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 250 hostage.
In a further development which raises concerns of an all-out war in the region, Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel.
Although the attack was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the killing.
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Haniyeh had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as it fought Israel’s offensive in the besieged and densely populated enclave of Gaza.
He had been taking part in indirect talks to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza, where, according to local health officials, more than 39,400 people have been killed in the nearly 10 months of war.