AThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday that commander Fuad Shukr, who was the target of today’s attack in Lebanon, has died.
The news was announced at a press conference by the Israeli army, after several contradictory reports.
“In a targeted assassination operation, fighter jets struck Beirut, killing Fouad Chokr ‘Sayyid Muhsan’, the highest-ranking military commander of the terrorist organization Hezbollah and responsible for the organization’s strategic formation”explained the army.
Israeli authorities hold Fouad Chokr responsible for the deaths of 12 children on Saturday in a rocket attack attributed to Hezbollah in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as well as for the “murder of many Israeli citizens and foreigners over the years.”
“He served as the right-hand man and adviser on war planning and management to the secretary general of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah”the Army added.
Who was Fouad Chokr?
Considered the group’s “chief of staff”, he was responsible for Hezbollah’s most advanced weapons arsenal, especially precision missiles, cruise missiles, coastal missiles, long-range rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and was responsible for planning attacks against Israel, according to the Army.
He had worked for Hezbollah for more than 30 years and participated in the planning and execution of the attack on the US Marine Corps in Beirut on October 23, 1983, which resulted in the deaths of 241 American soldiers.
Since then he has appeared on the US State Department’s most wanted list, who offered $5 million for information on his whereabouts.
He joined Hezbollah in 1985 and has since held several senior positions in the organization, including on the Jihad Council, the group’s main military forum.
In the 1990s, according to Israel, it carried out “terrorist attacks” against the Israel Defense Forces and the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army, and in 2000 it was directly involved in the abduction of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah while patrolling the border.
The attack (and the different accounts)
The Israeli army was quick to claim responsibility for the attack in southern Beirut after a large explosion was heard. It initially said the aim was to eliminate the “commander responsible for the murder of children in Majdal Shams.”
A Hezbollah source had told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Fouad Chokr, the military commander targeted in the Israeli attack, had survived the attack.
Israel had promised to respond harshly to this attack caused by the impact of a rocket on a football pitch where children and teenagers were playing, killing twelve, all between the ages of 10 and 16.
The international community, especially the United States, is mediating so that the response is restrained and does not lead to open war on the border between Israel and Lebanon, which is experiencing its highest peak of tension since 2006, when the Israeli army and Hezbollah fought a war.
Earlier this morning, Israel had already attacked 10 Hezbollah targets in various regions of Lebanon, killing another Hezbollah fighter; while the Shiite militia launched several rocket volleys towards the north, killing an Israeli civilian.
The border between Israel and Lebanon has been experiencing intense exchanges of fire since October, which have cost the lives of more than 560 people, most of them on the Lebanese side and in the ranks of Hezbollah, which has confirmed around 355 victims, some in Syria, in addition to a hundred civilians.
In Israel, 46 people died in the north: 22 military personnel (five in operational accidents) and 25 civilians, including 12 children and teenagers in the Majdal Shams attack and another today.
Read Also: Lebanese government condemns Israeli attack and admits response
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2607494/exercito-israelita-diz-que-comandante-alvo-do-ataque-no-libano-morreu
