ISRAEL says it has fired a “targeted strike” into Lebanon capital Beirut, in a bid to blast away a senior Hezbollah commander amid fears of all-out war.
A loud explosion was heard as smoke filled the air in the city’s south, a known Hezbollah stronghold.
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It comes as a response to the Hezbollah strike on Israeli territory Golan Heights over the weekend that killed 12 children on a football pitch.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) confirmed it dealt the blow in a statement on X.
It said: “The IDF carried out a targeted strike in Beirut, on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians.”
The Beirut blast is set to heighten fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza also raging on.
Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant put out his own statement on X, saying: “Hezbollah crossed the red line.”
At least one person, a woman, has been killed in the strike, Lebanon’s state-run National news agency and the Associated Press reported.
But the head of Hezbollah’s operations centre Fuad Shukr survived the Israeli strike aimed at killing him, two senior security sources told Reuters.
The commander is believed to have been responsible for the horror Golan Heights attack that killed 12 children playing football.
According to the US, Shukr is a senior military counsellor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a member of the Jihad Council, the group’s highest military council.
He has also taken part in the group’s efforts in Syria’s civil war, where it has backed Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The US has offered a $5 million reward for information on Shukr and claims that he played a “central role” in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 US military men.
Al Jazeera reported mass panic on the ground, with ambulances racing to the scene and people trying to rush back to their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to hit back at Hezbollah after the Golan Heights horror, which the terror group denies responsibility for.
Meanwhile, Lebanese PM Najib Mikati has criticised what he called Israel’s “blatant Israeli aggression” against Beirut.
He described the strike as a “criminal act” in a “series of aggressive operations killing civilians in clear and explicit violation of international law”.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said earlier today his government planned to complain to the United Nations.
Bou Habib also told Reuters he hoped any response by Hezbollah would not trigger an escalation.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, previously warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon would have “serious consequences”.
It means fears of pandemonium in the Middle East are set to grow with Israel now at war both with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Both Hezbollah and Hamas are militant groups backed by Iran, which itself fired missiles into Israel in April.
Already adding to Israeli headaches are the Houthis in Yemen, another proxy power of Iran.
It is therefore feared the Israelis face multiple theatres of war from different directions.
Former British army colonel Richard Kemp recently told The Sun: “Iran has shown some scale, I suppose you call it, at coordinating actions and using one front to retaliate against actions on another front.”
The US was urging foes in the region to resolve their differences diplomatically rather than with rockets.
Only hours before a rocket was fired into Beirut, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said: “While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight.
“And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable.
“We’d like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.”
Hezbollah had already evacuated some of its known position in Lebanon in anticipation of an Israeli strike.
Who are Hezbollah?
Hezbollah – or the Party of God – is a Shia Muslim movement which emerged during the early 1980s with financial backing from Iran.
The group is now considered an Iranian proxy army and the group is committed to destroying Israel.
In 2001, UK ministers banned its external security organisation and seven years later, the proscription was extended to Hezbollah’s military wing.
A listing in the official register of banned groups says Hezbollah is “committed to armed resistance to the state of Israel, and aims to seize all Palestinian territories and Jerusalem from Israel”.
It added: “Its military wing supports terrorism in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.”
Brit officials have accused the Iran organisation of destabilising the Middle East and it is a proscribed group in the UK.
Any members in the UK or supporters could be jailed for up to 10 years.
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