Hezbollah says senior commander was in building hit in Israeli strike, fate unknown

Lebanon’s Hezbollah confirmed early on Wednesday that its senior commander Fuad Shukr was in the building targeted by an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but said that his fate remained unknown.

Israel’s military announced late on Tuesday it had killed Shukr, whom it named as Hezbollah’s most senior commander and blamed for an attack at the weekend that left a dozen youths dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the weekend attack.

The group said that a number of citizens were killed and injured in the attack on the residential building and that Shukr “was present in the building at the time [of the attack].”

“Since the incident, the civil defense teams have been working diligently but slowly to remove the rubble due to the condition of the destroyed floors, and we are still waiting for the result that those concerned with this operation will reach regarding the fate of the great and dear leader and other citizens in this place, so that the necessary action can be taken,” Hezbollah said in the statement.

On Wednesday morning, Lebanon’s civil defense teams were on the ground in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, clearing rubble from the strike, according to a Reuters witness.

Hezbollah set up a security cordon around the area but granted limited access to reporters to film.

The attack appeared to have shorn off the top corner of a multi-story building and scattered bits of charred debris onto the surroundings buildings and streets.

There were no other residents in sight.

The Israeli strike killed a woman and two children, medical and security sources told Reuters late Tuesday.

Shukr was an adviser to Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, according to Hezbollah sources and to the Israeli military’s announcement of his killing.

His apparent killing marks the most senior Hezbollah commander to have been killed in nearly 10 months of exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, taking place in parallel with the Gaza War.