Who was Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah commander whose death triggered today's conflict?

New Delhi:

The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah fired a large number of rockets at Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the assassination of its top commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut last month.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire since October 7, but managed to avoid a major escalation. Although both sides managed to avoid a major escalation, tensions rose significantly after a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 people. While Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack, Israel responded with targeted airstrikes, assassinating Fuad Shukr and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

On Sunday, the Iran-backed movement said the attack was a response to Israel's actions and announced it had completed the “first phase” of its retaliatory measures against the Jewish state, Reuters reported.

Who was Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr?

Fuad Shukr, also known by the code name “Al-Hajj Mohsin,” was a senior commander in Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon that is considered a terrorist organization by several countries, including the United States and Israel. Shukr was one of the founding members of Hezbollah during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. He was part of the generation of Lebanese Shiites who joined forces with Iran's Revolutionary Guard to form the group.

He was a close associate of Imad Mughniyeh, the former Hezbollah military commander who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008. Shukr's prominence within the group grew after Mughniyeh's death.

The US accused Shukr of playing a central role in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 US soldiers. The attack is one of the deadliest against American forces in the Middle East. The US government had put a bounty of up to $5 million on Shukr's head as part of its “Rewards for Justice” program.

Fuad Shukr served as a senior military commander of Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and was a member of the group's highest military body, the Jihad Council. He played a key role in Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, particularly in supporting President Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah's involvement in Syria was critical to Assad's survival during the early years of the conflict.

Fuad Shukr was also a special adviser to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and a member of the Shura Council, an important decision-making body within the organization.

On July 30, Fuad Shukr was the target of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. After the airstrike, Lebanese security sources reported that Shukr was seriously injured. His death was later confirmed by Israeli radio reports.