2024-07-31 09:13:26
“Israeli Air Force fighter jets killed Fuad Shukra, the top military commander of the terrorist organization Hezbollah and the head of its strategic unit, in the Beirut area,” the army said in a statement.
“Fuad Shukra was the commander responsible for the Majdal Shams massacre, in which 12 children were killed Saturday night when Hezbollah fired an Iranian-made Falaq-1 missile directly into a soccer field in northern Israel,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a separate video.
“Fuad Shukr was Hassan Nasrallah’s right-hand man, the leader of Hezbollah and his adviser in planning and directing attacks and operations,” Hagari said. In his words, F. Shukra was “a high-ranking terrorist whose hands are stained with the blood of Israelis and many others.”
Shukra led Hezbollah attacks against Israel when the war in Gaza broke out, the military said in a statement. He was responsible for most of Hezbollah’s most advanced weapons, including precision-guided missiles, cruise, anti-ship and long-range missiles and drones, the report said.
The military said the Hezbollah commander was “directly involved” in the kidnapping of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers – Benjamin Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawaid – in the 1990s. Hezbollah killed the three soldiers who were patrolling a security fence near Har Dov, the military said. “Since then, he has planned and directed numerous terror attacks against innocent civilians,” the military said in a statement.
Hagari also said that Israel wants to end the hostilities without a wider war with Hezbollah, but that the country’s forces are prepared for “any scenario”.
“Hezbollah’s continued aggression and brutal attacks are drawing the people of Lebanon and the entire Middle East into a wider escalation,” the rear admiral said. “While we would like to end the confrontation without devolving into a wider war, the Israeli military is fully prepared for any scenario.”
2024-07-31 09:13:26