The strike today on Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh came literally hours after Israel targeted Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut late yesterday. Hezbollah finally confirmed Shukr’s death late in the day after his body was recovered from the rubble resulting from the Israeli strike. Hezbollah said in a statement that its response to Shukr’s assassination would be announced in a speech by its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Aug. 1, reported Al Mayadeen.
Prior to the strike on Beirut, the U.S. had warned Hezbollah through Lebanese mediators that Israel plans to conduct “big strikes” in the east and south of Lebanon in retaliation for an attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but will stop well short of a major offensive, reported Middle East Eye. MEE suggests that those backchannel promises could explain why U.S. officials have publicly shrugged off concerns about a war breaking out between the Iran-backed group and Israel, and calling them “exaggerated.”
