Alwaght- Three days after verbal Israeli threats to respond to Majdal Shams village incident that led to death of 12 Israelis and injury of nearly 40, on Tuesday night, news outlets reported a massive blast in southern Beirut.
Lebanese media announced that this explosion was caused by an Israeli airstrike on the Hara Harik area in the southern parts of Beirut, which led to the collapse of a residential building and killed at least two people.
After the attack, Israeli army officially claimed responsibility. Sources said that the main target of the operation was a senior Hezbollah official named Fuad Shukr.
Who was Fuad Shukr?
Fuad Shukr, known as Fawad Mohsen al-Haj, was a member of the Lebanese Hezbollah military council. In a report, Sky News Arabic introduced Shukr as the senior military advisor of Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Shukr served in Hezbollah's highest military rank, the Jihad Council, and was in charge of leading Hezbollah fighters in the Syrian war against terrorists.
Israel's Channel 12 reported that Shukr was in charge of developing the movement's missile program. He was a close friend of the Omad Moghniyeh, the assassinated commander of Hezbollah.
The American media claimed years ago that Shukr played a key role in the October 23, 1983, bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 US servicemen and wounded 128 others.
On September 10, 2019, the US State Department imposed sanctions on Shukr under Executive Order 13224.
Also, on July 21, 2015, the US Treasurey, according to Executive Order 13582, sanctioned him and even issued a reward of 5 million dollars for information leading to his arrest.
The Israeli attack came as after Israeli threats in recent days, Hezbollah warned that it will give regretting response to any Israeli aggression, raising possibility of escalation of tensions. Alwaght talked to Saadullah Zaree, an Iranian expert of West Asian affairs, to discuss details of the attack.
Israel playing with fire: It will not end here
Asked about his assessment of the type of the Israeli operation in Beirut and its goals and results, Mr Zaree said: Attack on Beirut was expected and there was evidence to it. So, it was not a surprise. But some news reports said that Hezbollah officially rejected his martyrdom. Still, we cannot comment on what happened based on the news that are coming out of invalid sources. But what happened was not far from expected and the Israelis announced at the highest level at the same time that this operation was in response to the incident that happened in Majdal Shams village and in their opinion they are done.
The Israelis rushing to announce the end of an operation shows that they are worried about the escalation of tensions and conflict and want to end the issue here. Of course, the contacts have already started from various parties on behalf of the Israeli regime with the Lebanese authorities so that Hezbollah does not react harshly. The representatives of the United States, France and England have already discussed the issue with the foreign minister and the prime minister of Lebanon to steer clear of new Hezbollah’s reaction.
Mr Zaree added that the Israelis clearly sought to take a symbolic action to tell the world that they took revenge for Majdal Shams village incident. But Majdal Shams incident is not the one for which the Israelis can make a claim because this village is not an Israeli one and its residents are Druze with whom Hezbollah has very close ties. Additionally, the stances of Walid Jumblatt and Druze religious leaders in favor of Hezbollah showed that Hezbollah is not at odds with the Druze people. Therefore, the Israeli claims would not be bought by the public opinion.
At the same time, Israel was afraid that this attack could be seen as an opening of a new front from the occupied Golan Heights and that it acted in Majdal Shams to prevent this. Now the ground is made for Hezbollah to take a reciprocal action. After all, the capital Beirut, a red line for Hezbollah, was attacked. If Hezbollah’s response targets the capital Tel Aviv, which is a natural right for the resistance movement, it shows that the Israelis have made a stupid move and subjected their capital, which was not attacked even during the 33-Day War of 2006, to threats because it paves the way for Hezbollah operations. Israelis say the operation is done, but the fact is that they cannot determine the end.
According to Mr Zaree, Hezbollah is now in a defensive position and its counterattack will be justified and the public opinion will accept that. And if the Israelis want to respond, then the scope of fire will be expanded. So, it should be said that the play with fire the Israeli started will only add to their troubles and expose them to risks. The clashes will certainly accelerate and intensify and this will never play into the hands of the Israelis.
Symbolic operations reveal Israeli weakness
Mr Zaree commented on the similar operation of Israel in Yemen last week, adding that Israel launched a symbolic attack there. Why symbolic? Because the Yemeni resistance struck the Israeli capital. The Israelis in response neither attacked Yemen land nor capital. They struck Hudaydah coasts in the Red Sea, hitting an oil storage. They did not continue their operation. Albeit, the Americans and British followed with similar attacks the day after, but they made not gains and Yemen stepped up its threat scope. So, the Israeli action in Yemen was a symbolic operation with a low significance, failing to change the equations. Namely, it did not stop Ansarullah and the Yemeni operations continued. While the Israeli move was symbolic, Hezbollah can strike the Israeli capital heavily. Namely, if the Yemeni resistance targets only one building and killed one or two, Hezbollah can carry out heavy strikes on Tel Aviv. Therefore, the Israelis have resorted to symbolic operations instead of effective and real ones and this speaks about their weakness.
The message of the Leader's meeting with resistance commanders
Mr Zaree in the closing part of his comments referred to his meeting with leaders of resistance camp on Tuesday. He added that in the middle of war, the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei met with Palestinian, Iraqi, Yemeni, and Lebanese resistance leaders. He met the Iraqi prime minister, Ansarullah spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam, and Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. So, this was a comprehensive meeting of the branches of resistance groups active in Gaza war. This shows that this circle is actively working. This means that in the new era in Iran and under new president, the Iranian bonds with the resistance will be boosted.
