An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday targeted the head of the armed group Hezbollah's operations room, three senior security sources told Reuters, saying that his fate remained unknown. The sources named him as Muhsin Shukr but said he was also known as Fuad Shukr. Fuad Shukr was sanctioned by the United States in 2015.
VIDEO: Aftermath of Israeli strike on Beirut
(VIDEO CREDIT: REUTERS)
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1818333771260690783
Israel has blamed the rocket attack on the Hezbollah militant group, which has denied any role in the attack A Hezbollah official and the group’s TV station said that an Israeli airstrike hit Hezbollah’s stronghold south of Beirut on Tuesday evening, causing damage.
The airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik damaged several buildings but it was not immediately clear if any Hezbollah official was targeted, the Hezbollah official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
A rocket attack on a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 people including children on Saturday, Israeli authorities said, blaming Hezbollah and vowing to inflict a heavy price on the Iran-backed Lebanese group. Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the strike, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
The attack sharply escalated tensions in the hostilities which have been fought in parallel to the Gaza war and has raised fears of a full-blown conflict between the heavily armed adversaries. The rocket struck a football pitch in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, territory captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.
Netanyahu says "Hezbollah will pay a heavy price"
"Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a phone call with the leader of the Druze community in Israel, according to a statement from his office. In a written statement, Hezbollah said: "The Islamic Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the incident, and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard". Hezbollah had earlier announced several rocket attacks targeting Israeli military positions.
(With inputs from agency)
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