Israel claims to kill Hezbollah senior commander in Beirut strike

Israel's military claimed it killed Hezbollah's most senior commander in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday, in retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack that killed 12 youngsters three days ago which it blamed on the Lebanese armed group, reuters.

A loud blast was heard and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above Beirut's southern suburbs - a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah - at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), a Reuters witness said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the strike killed Fuad Shukr, who "has the blood of many Israelis on his hands. Tonight, we have shown that the blood of our people has a price, and that there is no place out of reach for our forces to this end."

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah. The group has denied involvement in a rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday that killed 12 youth in a football field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams.

A senior security source from another country in the region confirmed Shukr had died of wounds sustained in the strike.

Israel's military said Shukr was the most important aide to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, his adviser for wartime operations and in charge of Saturday's attack.

The Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut also killed three civilians including two children, medical and security sources told Reuters.

Hours before the strike, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe a fight was inevitable between Hezbollah and Israel, though he remained concerned about the potential for escalation.

Hezbollah and Israel, which last fought each other in a major war in 2006, have been trading fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, after Hezbollah began firing at Israeli targets in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.

The hostilities have mostly been limited to the frontier region and both sides have previously indicated they do not seek a wider confrontation even as the conflict has prompted worry about the risk of a slide towards war._Agencies.