Fu’ad Shukr served as a senior “military” adviser to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
(July 30, 2024 / JNS)
An airstrike by the Israeli Air Force in Beirut on Tuesday night killed a top Hezbollah commander responsible for Saturday’s rocket barrage that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, as well as a 1983 bombing that killed 241 U.S. troops in Beirut, the Israeli military confirmed.
The attack targeted Fuad Shukr, a senior operative of the Jihad Council, which is subordinate to Hezbollah’s Shura Council and is under the direct control of terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah, the IDF said.
—Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 30, 2024
“Today, July 30, 2024, in a targeted, intelligence-based elimination, Israeli Air Force fighter jets eliminated the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s most senior military commander and the head of its Strategic Unit, Fuad Shukr,” the military announced in a statement.
Shukr “directed Hezbollah’s attacks on the State of Israel since Oct. 8, and was the commander responsible for the murder of the 12 children in Majdal Shams in northern Israel on Saturday evening, as well as the killing of numerous Israelis and foreign nationals,” the IDF added.
Shukr—also known as al-Hajj Mohsin—served as a senior “military” adviser to Nasrallah and played a central role in the planning and execution of the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks bombing on Oct. 23, 1983, in the Lebanese capital, which killed 241 U.S. service personnel.
Shukr was sanctioned by the United States in 2015. Two years later, the U.S. government offered $5 million for information on his whereabouts.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the strike had hit near the building of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, which determines the terrorist organization’s key policies and strategies.
The White House was reportedly informed ahead of time about the strike. CNN reported that the heads-up was conveyed by Jerusalem through “security channels” but did not say when it was given.
Shukr’s fate remained unclear in the initial hours following the strike, which caused a large blast in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.
Site of explosion in southern Beirut. pic.twitter.com/bjuNPe7SGh
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) July 30, 2024
“Hezbollah crossed a red line,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote in a post on X after the attack in Beirut.
The Prime Minister’s Office published a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi meeting with military officials in Jerusalem. Local media reported that Netanyahu made his way to the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The prime minister reportedly convened a security assessment with the participation of Gallant, Hanegbi, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Mossad head David Barnea and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar.
Earlier Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the Israel Defense Forces’ retaliation “will come, and it will be tough.”
“These children are our children; they are the children of all of us. The State of Israel will not and cannot let this pass,” the Israeli leader told mourners in Majdal Shams, where he visited the attack site.
Twelve children were killed and more than 40 people were wounded by the Hezbollah strike on Saturday, marking the Lebanese terror army’s deadliest attack since it joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8.
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Spotlight on the Druze
A religious sect that began about a thousand years ago in Egypt as an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, the Druze, who number about one million worldwide, primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, as well as in smaller communities in Western cities around the globe.
The insular and close-knit Druze faith was influenced by the Quran, Christianity and Judaism, as well Greek philosophy and Eastern mysticism, according to the American Druze Foundation.
More than 150,000 Druze live in Israel, representing about 1.6% of the population, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Druze are notably loyal to the country in which they live. Along with members of the smaller Circassian community, Druze Israeli men perform mandatory service in the IDF, where they excel and have long been known for their high rate of enlistment in combat units and careers in the military.
Hezbollah’s miscalculation
While the Druze who live in the Galilee are strongly pro-Israel, some residents of the four Druze villages in the Golan Heights have in the past expressed support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, leading Israeli intelligence to conclude that Hezbollah would not have deliberately targeted Majdal Shams, Kara said.
“Hezbollah made a big mistake,” he added, noting the condolences that poured in from Druze leaders around the region. “They are afraid that Druze in their countries will turn against them.”
Sectarian strife in Lebanon
“This attack can cause friction and a sectarian conflict between Hezbollah and the Druze in Lebanon, who see Hezbollah taking over the country,” Tel Aviv University Professor Uzi Rabi told JNS.
Last month, an Israeli couple was killed by a Hezbollah rocket elsewhere on the Golan Heights. Tens of thousands of Israelis from northern Israel have been evacuated from their homes for more than nine months due to the attacks from Lebanon.
“Israel’s image has been eroded in the region since October 7 and it is time to put some teeth with an out-of-the-box response against Lebanese infrastructure that shows that a country that hosts a terror group will pay a high price,” Rabi said.
“There has always been rifts among the various ethnic groups in Lebanon,” said Tel Aviv University Professor Eyal Zisser. “Each ethnicity hates the other and this will only add to the tension and enmity.”
‘Our October 7’
“This was like our October 7,” said Haill Safadi, a Majdal Shams resident whose nephew was at the soccer match at the time of attack but was uninjured.
Safadi was at Sunday’s mass funeral for the children, including four from one family.
Emotions were raw; villagers accosted Israeli Cabinet ministers who came to pay their respects and shouted: “Why is Beirut still standing?” and, “If you can’t respond [to Hezbollah], let us.”
“From our point of view, the Lebanese government has given Hezbollah free rein to kill our children,” Safadi said. “Hezbollah wants to destroy the State of Israel, and God willing they will be destroyed.”