Israeli attack on a senior Hezbollah official in the Golan Heights on Tuesday and the explosion in Haret Hraik

Israel carried out a strike in the suburbs of Beirut, on Tuesday night, saying that it had targeted Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah official, whom it blamed for an assault that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights this weekend.

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.

Israeli officials who spoke to the media about the strike on Tuesday didn’t give the target’s identity in order to keep sensitive details of the operation secret.

Videos and photographs posted on social media on Tuesday showed smoke rising above buildings as darkness fell over Beirut. The southern suburb has a dense civilian area that Hezbollah holds sway in.

The strike was in the vicinity of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. The Haret Hraik neighborhood in southern Lebanon was the scene of an explosion that heavily damaged an apartment building. The Bahman Hospital and a mosque stand nearby.

“I heard something like thunder and then a big explosion,” said Mohamed Awada, a taxi driver who lives in the southern suburbs of Lebanon.

The Israeli-Israel War on Gaza: What’s Happening with Shukr, the World’s Biggest Loss, and What We Can Do to Stop It

Israel did not say how it knew about the Hezbollah commander’s death. Hezbollah has not commented on Tuesday’s strike in Beirut or whether Shukr died.

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

The program offered $5 million for information on Mr. Shukr, who was designated a global terrorist by the State Department in 2019.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, and TEL AVIV, Israel — A large explosion ripped through the streets of southern Beirut on Tuesday evening. Israel said it was responsible for a targeted strike.

The United States and other nations have urged Israeli officials to exercise restraint in the conflict with Hezbollah, warning against escalation as Israel continues its nearly 10-month campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

An ambulance sounded its way to the area after police closed the roads near the location of Tuesday’s strike. The people were shouting, “My family is 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 those included 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.

John Kirby spoke with reporters on Monday and explained that they don’t want the war to escalate. We do not want to see another front open up in the north. We’re focused on finding a diplomatic solution to reduce the tensions and that’s what we’re trying to do.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also responded to questions about the strike in Beirut. “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.

The news comes just hours after Israel said it hadkilled a top commander of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in an airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut in retaliation for the Saturday killing of 12 children in a rocket attack on Majdal Shams in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Palestinian militant group Hamas said that its top leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran. He was killed in an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new Iranian president, according to the group.