A U.S. Marine Compound in Lebanon: a Strike against a Hezbollah Commandant in the Golan Heights

Israel launched a strike on Tuesday in Lebanon, which it said was aimed at a commander who it blamed for the deaths of 12 children and teens in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Tensions have soared between Israel and Hezbollah since the assault on Saturday in the Golan Heights, which killed the children and teenagers as they played soccer.

The Israeli officials who spoke about the strike on Tuesday and its target did so on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation.

Videos and photographs posted on social media on Tuesday showed smoke rising above buildings as darkness fell over Beirut. Some showed crowds gathering in the streets of the southern suburb, a dense civilian area where Hezbollah holds sway.

Lebanon’s state-run news agency said that the strike happened in the vicinity of Hezbollah’s Shura Council. Videos and photos posted to social media show what appears to be an apartment building that was heavily damaged by the strike in the Haret Hraik neighborhood in southern Beirut. The Bahman Hospital and a mosque are nearby.

A large explosion ripped through the streets of southern Beirut after Israeli forces struck an apartment building. An ambulance wailed its way to the area as police closed off the roads. People were shouting, “My family was inside, my family is inside!” as they ran toward the explosion.

The 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine compound in Beirut, which killed 241 American servicemen and wounded 128 others, is said to have been carried out by Mr. Shukr.

Ms. Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that he is a very big target. “He would be the biggest loss for Hezbollah since Oct. 7.”

The program offered $5 million for information on the man, who the State Department branded a global terrorist in 2019.

The Israel-Lebanon War and the Palestinians: A U.S.-Israel War in the Light of Israeli-Israeli Relations with Hamas

The Israeli military has primarily targeted Hezbollah’s commanders, fighters and weapons infrastructure, and largely refrained from actions that could lead to a more substantial response from Hezbollah, like striking Beirut or major civilian targets.

The United States says Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah.

An ambulance wailed on its way to the area close to where Tuesday’s strike took place. People were shouting that they had their family inside. They ran towards the explosion.

Israel made it clear that it would retaliate for Saturday’s rocket attack it blamed on Hezbollah. “Hezbollah crossed the red line,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X Tuesday.

When asked about the strike in a briefing with reporters, U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that the United States’ support for Israel was “ironclad” especially if it did defend itself against Iran-backed threats. He said there were threats from Hezbollah.

The strike came as the international community urged restraint from both sides, fearing that an escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border could spark an all-out war.

The White House does not want to see the war get worse, John Kirby said on Monday. We don’t want to have a second front up there. What we want to do and what we’re still focused on is finding a diplomatic solution here to reduce the tensions.”

The press secretary of the White House responded to questions about the strike in Lebanon. “We do not believe that an all out-war is inevitable,” she said, adding, “we believe that it can still be avoided.”

U.S. diplomats believe the best way to defuse the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is to reach a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Israel said it had killed the top commander of Hezbollah in an air strike on the capital of the group in Lebanon in revenge for the Saturday rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

Hamas said its leader was killed in Iran. In a statement released on Wednesday, the group said he was killed in an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran after participating in the inauguration ceremony of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.