Israel confirms strike in Beirut against Hezbollah

What happened

The Israeli military on Tuesday announced it carried out a missile strike against a Hezbollah commander in suburban Beirut. The attack is believed to be retaliation for a rocket launch from Lebanon that killed at least a dozen children this week in the Druze Arab village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the incident. 

Who said what

The attack on Majdal Shams "crossed a red line," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Israel and Hezbollah militants have been "exchanging near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza," the Associated Press said. Those volleys have largely been kept at a "low level that would not escalate into full-on war." The intended target of Tuesday's strike was Fuad Shukr, a "senior Hezbollah official and close adviser to Hassan Nasrallah, the group's secretary general," The New York Times said. It is unclear whether Shukr survived.

What next?

Diplomats have scrambled to "fend off" any escalation into a full war between the neighboring states, The Washington Post said. Intensified violence along Israel's border with Lebanon is not "inevitable," American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said to reporters on Tuesday. However, "if Israel is attacked, yes, we will help Israel defend itself," he added. "We have been clear about that from the very beginning." 

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