Updated July 30, 2024 at 15:33 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon, and TEL AVIV, Israel — A large explosion ripped through the streets of southern Beirut on Tuesday evening. A short while later, Israel claimed responsibility for what it called a “targeted strike.”
The Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah commander whom it blamed for a rocket strike over the weekend that killed 12 children and left several people wounded in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The Iran-backed militia group has denied that it was involved in that attack.
Close to the location of Tuesday's strike in Beirut, police closed off the roads and an ambulance wailed its way to the area. People were shouting, “My family was inside, my family is inside!” as they ran toward the explosion.
Lebanon's state media reported that a building collapsed in the southern suburbs after “an enemy attack.” Hezbollah has not commented.
An Israeli official told NPR the Hezbollah commander who was targeted is named Fouad Shukr. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
When NPR asked whether the target was killed in the strike, the Israeli official said: “TBD.”
Israel made it clear that it would retaliate for Saturday's rocket attack it blamed on Hezbollah. "Hezbollah crossed the red line," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X Tuesday.
When asked about the strike in a briefing with reporters, U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that the United States’ support for Israel was “ironclad” especially if it did defend itself against Iran-backed threats. He said those included threats from Hezbollah.
The strike came as the international community urged restraint from both sides, fearing that an escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border could spark an all-out war.
“We don't want to see the war escalate,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday. “We don't want to see a second front opened up there in the north. What we want to do and what we're still focused on is finding a diplomatic solution here to reduce the tensions.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also responded to questions about the strike in Beirut. "We do not believe that an all out-war is inevitable," she said, adding, "we believe that it can still be avoided."
U.S. diplomats believe the best way to defuse the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is to reach a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire across their shared border since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7 of last year, after the Hamas-led attack on Israel. In January, Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a strike that was widely blamed on Israel, but that the Israeli military did not confirm or deny.
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