31 Jul 2024 | 12:16 AM UTC
Lebanon: IDF asserts airstrike kills senior Lebanese Hizballah commander Fuad Shukr in Haret Hreik area, southern suburbs of Beirut, late July 30 /update 1
IDF asserts airstrike kills Fuad Shukr, senior Lebanese Hizballah commander, in Haret Hreik, Dahieh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, late July 30.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has asserted that its late July 30 airstrike on a building in the Haret Hreik area of Dahieh, a suburb to the south of Beirut, killed senior Lebanese Hizballah (LH) commander Fuad Shukr (nom de guerre al-Hajj Mohsin). Israeli officials have claimed that Shukr was responsible for the July 27 rocket attack on Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 people. The IDF strike reportedly occurred at around 19:40 and targeted the Al-Rabih Building in the vicinity of the LH's Shura Council, resulting in the partial collapse of the targeted building and damage to several others nearby. Lebanese health officials asserted that the strike also killed three others and injured at least 74 people; authorities will probably update the casualty count over the coming hours. The IDF did not immediately issue changes to the Home Front Command defensive guidelines following the strike.
LH forces will likely launch retaliatory projectile fire or drone attacks toward Israel over the coming hours. The probability of significant conflict escalation will greatly increase if LH conducts major retaliatory actions against Israel or Israeli interests that result in several or more Israeli casualties. Additionally, further Israeli airstrikes targeting LH personnel cannot be ruled out over the coming days.
Avoid the impacted location until authorities give the all-clear. Plan for localized disruptions, allow additional time for travel, and seek alternative routes to circumvent the affected area. Heed all official directives. If an attack alert is issued in the general vicinity, stay indoors and away from windows and exterior walls. If possible, move to a ground floor, basement, or bunker. Maintain contact with your country's diplomatic mission.
The IDF assessed Shukr to be LH's most senior military commander and a key associate of LH leader Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli military officials also claimed that Shukr was responsible for LH's acquisition of its most advanced weaponry, and played a major role in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 US military personnel.
Israeli officials and media intimated that the country was not seeking further military escalation with LH following the July 30 strike, suggesting that the assault may mark the end of the IDF response to the July 27 Majdal Shams rocket attack barring significant retaliatory action from LH. Since cross-border exchanges of strikes increased in frequency and severity between the IDF and LH in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, both sides have generally calibrated their attacks to avoid a broader escalation of hostilities into outright war. If the LH seeks to calibrate its response to the July 30 Haret Hreik strike so as to prevent further escalation, it may accordingly attempt to carry out a well-telegraphed projectile or drone attack on northern Israel that is capable of being largely thwarted by Israeli air defenses, similar to the April 13 Iranian strikes against Israel that came in response to Israel's April 1 bombing of the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus.
