Hezbollah and Israel trade attacks, raising fears of a wider war: What we know
WASHINGTON – Israel’s decision to carry out an airstrike in Beirut in retaliation for a weekend rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights is raising fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it carried out the airstrike and that it killed the Hezbollah commander who was the target.
The attack on the Lebanese capital was Israel's response to the Saturday rocket attack in Golan that killed 12 children and teenagers.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said at least one person was killed and several injured by a drone that fired three missiles in Beirut.
Here’s what we know:
Why did Israel strike Beirut?
Israel’s drone strike on Beirut was in retaliation for Saturday night’s rocket attack in the Golan Heights.
The rocket struck a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied territory, which was captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized by most countries.
Israel and the United States blamed the attack on Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group. “It was their rocket,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a powerful Islamic militant group with deep ties to the Palestinian group Hamas, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza when it crossed the border into southern Israel on Oct. 7 and staged a bloody attack that killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Palestinian health officials say more than 39,000 people have been killed in Israel’s ground and air campaign in response to the attack on Gaza.
Hezbollah has claimed allegiance to Palestinians and has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon's southern border since the Gaza war erupted last October. Hezbollah threatened further escalation in Israel’s war with Hamas last November but stopped short of formally declaring war on the Jewish state.
Hezbollah is based in Lebanon, north of Israel, and has been designated a terrorist group by the United States, Israel and other nations. It is known for staging attacks worldwide, including the October 1983 suicide bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, in the American military barracks in Beirut.
Hezbollah’s involvement in the conflict in Gaza is significant because it is the most powerful of Iran's network of regional proxy groups.
Hezbollah is believed to have 100,000 rockets, some with precision targeting. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in November that the group has 100,000 fighters, but outside estimates say it's closer to 20,000 to 50,000.
Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and beyond:Who are the Iran-backed groups in the Mideast?
Who was killed in the Israeli attack?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders vowed that Hezbollah would pay a heavy price for the soccer field attack.
The United States, while supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, urged restraint and held out hope for a diplomatic solution.
Israel, however, struck back.
"The IDF carried out a targeted strike in Beirut, on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians," Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Tuesday.
The IDF said in a statement that Israeli Air Force fighter jets killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and the head of its Strategic Unit, Fuad Shukr whom the IDF also refers to as "Sayyid Muhsan.” Shukr served as Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's right-hand man and was Nasrallah's adviser for planning and directing wartime operations.
Fuad Shukr has directed Hezbollah's attacks on Israel since Oct. 8th and was the commander responsible for the weekend drone attack that killed 12 children and teenagers, as well as the killing of numerous Israelis and foreign nationals over the years, the IDF said.
Reuters said two security sources in Lebanon said Fuad Shukr was critically injured in the attack around Hezbollah's Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighborhood.
Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad told Reuters that the strike also killed another person and injured 35, three critically.
A warning:Israeli response to soccer field attack could 'tear Lebanon apart'
What's next?
The U.S. and its allies are closely monitoring the developments to see if they could signal a wider war in the Middle East.
There is no indication yet that Hezbollah is preparing to escalate the conflict, a U.S. government official told USA TODAY.
Israeli media reported that, depending on the Hezbollah reaction, the military considered the Beirut strike as concluding the response to the Golan Heights attack.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, told reporters in Atlanta that Israel “has a right to defend itself, and I unequivocally support Israel’s right to remain secure and to defend the security of Israel.”
But Harris said the U.S. would continue working toward a diplomatic solution.
Contributing: Reuters, Tom Vanden Brook of USA TODAY
Michael Collins and Joey Garrison cover the White House. Follow Collins on X @mcollinsNEWS and Garrison @joeygarrison
