Israel says it killed a Hezbollah commander in an attack in Beirut

Israel carried out an airstrike on Tuesday targeting what it said was a senior Hezbollah commander responsible for a weekend rocket attack that killed a dozen Syrian children and young adults in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Lebanon has been holding its collective breath for days, with speculation rife about Israel’s response to Saturday’s rocket attack that hit a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a Syrian town in the Golan Heights.

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack, a charge the Iran-backed group denied. A day later, the Israeli Air Force said it had hit seven Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon.

The airstrikes on Tuesday evening appeared to be more limited. They hit a residential building near a hospital in the Hezbollah-dominated suburb of Dahieh. Residents near the blast site said they heard three explosions. The state news agency said it was the work of a drone that fired three missiles.

“The ground shook. It felt very close,” said a gas station attendant who wished to remain anonymous.

The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had “carried out a targeted attack in Beirut against the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous other Israeli civilians.”

“Hezbollah has crossed the red line,” wrote Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Israeli officials claimed their target had been killed.

Reporters were initially not allowed access to the attack site, but a reporter from the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar broadcaster said a woman was killed and several children injured.

More than two hours later, rescue teams, along with masked soldiers and Hezbollah members, were still trying to reach the rubble of the building, which is located in an alley near a pharmacy and a hair salon.

Pro-Hezbollah officials told local media that the operation failed to kill the intended target. Israeli media said the attacker was Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, a senior adviser to Hezbollah’s leadership and head of the group’s precision missile program.

Although Hezbollah and Israel have long been enemies, fighting between the two in recent years has been limited to little more than an occasional exchange of letters. But tensions escalated after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. In solidarity with Hamas militias, Hezbollah increased its rocket attacks along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Since then, the tense calm that once prevailed along the border has given way to almost daily exchanges of fire. Both sides stress that they do not want a full-scale war, but say they are prepared for it.