Israel Strikes Beirut in Muted Response to Golan Attack
(Bloomberg) -- Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander with an airstrike on Beirut, in what appeared to be a limited response to an attack in the Golan Heights that left 12 young people dead over the weekend.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Kamala Harris Wipes Out Trump’s Swing-State Lead in Election Dead Heat
Intel to Cut Thousands of Jobs to Reduce Costs, Fund Rebound
Luxury Heir Alleges His $13 Billion Hermès Fortune Has Vanished
Hamas Says Israel Killed Political Leader With Airstrike in Iran
The assault by fighter jets on Lebanon’s capital happened shortly before 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday and was aimed at Fuad Shukr, a senior adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also known as Mohsin, the Israeli military said. No further hits are planned for the time being, senior Israeli officials said, suggesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to avoid further escalation with the Lebanese group, one of the world’s most powerful non-state actors.
Hours later, Hamas — which like Hezbollah is backed by Iran — said Israel assassinated its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
The Beirut strike was in retaliation for an attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams on Saturday, by far the worst in terms of civilian fatalities within Israeli-controlled territory since Israel and Hezbollah started trading fire in October. Yet the targeted nature of the assault eased concerns that Israel’s reaction could trigger a full-blown war, potentially drawing in Iran and the US directly.
A diplomat from a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council said Israel’s choice of an isolated attack rather than a barrage offered hope that tensions may not heighten further.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike on a football field in the Golan Heights. The Lebanese militant group, designated a terrorist organization by the US, denied it was responsible.
“This was not a massive ‘destroy Beirut, obliterate Lebanon’s infrastructure’ attack,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “This attack was targeted and fearsome in its tactical intelligence, but not overwhelming. Hezbollah can choose not to escalate.”
Shukr was wanted by the US government for his involvement in a bombing in Beirut in 1983 that killed about 240 American service members.
TV footage out of Beirut showed plumes of smoke rising from buildings in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs, home to many supporters of Hezbollah. Lebanese media reported that four people were killed and more than 70 injured.
The Israeli shekel slumped as much as 1.8% to 3.77 per dollar immediately after the strike, before partially recovering.
Listen to the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.
“For Hezbollah and Israel, a regional escalation isn’t on the cards, or at least they don’t want it to be,” Natasha Hall, a senior fellow of the CSIS Middle East Program, said on Bloomberg TV. “That said, there could always be an escalation by accident, which is essentially what happened with the Majdal Shams attack.”
The US State Department said it would defer to Israel to comment on the strike in Lebanon and reiterated its “ironclad” support for the country “against all Iran-backed threats, including Hezbollah.”
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire almost daily since Israel’s war against Hamas erupted in October. Hezbollah says it’s acting in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah has said it won’t stop hostilities so long as the war in Gaza continues. Cease-fire talks have rumbled on for months without a resolution, with both Israel and Hamas making demands the other side won’t accept.
Iran said the Beirut strike was a “criminal action” that wouldn’t stop the “Lebanese resistance” from supporting Palestinians. It emphasized the right of Lebanon to respond.
Hezbollah is considered the main part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” a group of anti-US and anti-Israel militias across the Middle East. It’s a Shiite organization and one of the most-powerful non-state actors in the world, with far more fighters, missiles and drones than Hamas had before its war with Israel started.
Israel had “no choice but to respond” to show Hezbollah it had crossed “all the lines” with the Golan attack, said Dennis Ross, who served as the White House Middle East envoy under President Bill Clinton and is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It puts it into Hezbollah’s hands, without the scope of destruction being so great that Hezbollah feels it needs to respond in kind.”
--With assistance from Vivianne Rodrigues, Eric Martin, Iain Marlow and Augusta Saraiva.
(Updates with news of strike in Tehran on Hamas’ political leader.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Inside GunTube, the YouTube Subculture Linked to the Trump Shooter
Scammers Target Middle East Influencers With Meta’s Own Tools
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
