Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that senior military commander Fuad Shukr had been killed, more than 24 hours after an Israeli strike hit a building in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital that he was in.
The group said that its leader, Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, would make an address on the occasion of Shukr’s funeral on Thursday.
A source close to Hezbollah earlier told AFP that the body of top commander Fuad Shukr had been recovered.
The strike was followed by another, hours later, which killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, triggering fears the war in Gaza could escalate into a wider regional conflict.
The source, who requested anonymity, said “Shukr’s body has been found under the rubble of the targeted building,” after Israel’s military said it had killed the commander on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said its Tuesday evening strike had “eliminated” Shukr, who it blamed for carrying out a weekend rocket attack on the annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze Arab town.
The Israeli army has described Shukr as Hezbollah’s “most senior military commander” and “right-hand man” to the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah.
The raid on the Beirut suburb, an overcrowded residential area that is also a Hezbollah bastion, killed five civilians – three women and two children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
