Israeli military strikes Beirut, targets Hezbollah commander behind attack that killed 12 youths in Golan Heights – Times of India

NEW DELHI: In what could greatly escalate tensions in the Middle East, Israel on Tuesday confirmed that it has carried out an airstrike in Lebanon‘s capital Beirut.
As per a Reuters report, a senior Lebanese security source confirmed the attack, adding that the commander’s fate remained unclear.

According to the Israeli military, the strike targeted a Hezbollah commander who was allegedly behind the deadly rocket in the contested Golan Heights in which around 12 youths were killed.
A loud blast was heard and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs – a stronghold of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah – at around 1640 GMT, a Reuters witness said.
Lebanon’s state-run national news agency said an Israeli strike had targeted the area around Hezbollah’s Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of the capital.
Beirut has been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in retaliation for a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed a dozen youngsters.
Israel and the United States have blamed Hezbollah for the attack. Hezbollah has denied responsibility.
The Hezbollah commander targeted in the Israeli airstrike in Beirut is thought to be Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, a senior adviser to the terror group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Shukr was named by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) several years ago as a commander of Hezbollah’s precision missile project. He is also wanted by the United States for his role in the 1983 bombing of a US Marines barracks in Beirut.