The Israeli military carried out an airstrike Tuesday in a suburb of southern Beirut, targeting a commander they say was in charge of an attack last week on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 young people.
“The IDF targeted in Beirut the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams,” the IDF said Tuesday in a statement.
Reuters reported that the commander Israel was targeting had survived, citing two senior security sources. NBC News was not able to confirm the report.
Militants in Lebanon and Israel have been trading fire since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel and the start of the war in Gaza, raising fears that the fighting will spiral into a regional conflict.
Al Manar, a satellite television station run by Hezbollah, the group Israel blames for the strike last week on the town of Majdal Shams, reported that Israel had “launched an aerial aggression that targeted the southern suburb of Beirut.”
“Local sources reported that the raid in the Haret Hreik area was carried out by a drone and 3 missiles were fired,” the report added.
The television station also said that a building targeted by Israel in the Haret Hreik area, a Hezbollah stronghold, had collapsed.
Al Manar reported that two people had been killed and at least 10 wounded in the strike. Personnel from the emergency room at Bahman Hospital in Beirut told NBC News that a woman was killed and 17 were wounded, including six children and two critically.
Photographs from the area also showed cars crushed and covered with rubble.
Saturday’s strike on Majdal Shams killed at least 12, mostly children and teenagers belonging to the minority Druze community.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack. In a series of statements Saturday, Hezbollah did say it had struck nearby military targets in the Golan Heights.
In one statement, it claimed to have used a Falaq-1 rocket, the same munition Israel says hit the soccer field. However, the timings of the Hezbollah statements do not neatly align with the strike. Hezbollah said the Falaq-1 rocket was fired at 5:20 p.m. local time, while the IDF says Majdal Shams was hit at 6:18 p.m.
The Israeli military said the attack on Majdal Shams, which is on the border with Lebanon, was the deadliest strike on civilians in Israeli territory since Oct. 7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed back to Tel Aviv from the United States as outrage built in Israel.
“Israel is approaching the moment of an all-out war against Hezbollah,” the Israeli military said at the time. “The IDF is prepared and ready to protect Israel’s security.”
In January, an Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official. That strike was the first time Israel had hit Beirut since the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Ammar Cheikh Omar, Charlene Gubash and Associated Press contributed.
