Hezbollah Commander, Hamas Leaders Killed in Separate Airstrikes

Israel killed a Hezbollah commander in an air strike Tuesday in Beirut, Lebanon. At least three civilians were killed and 74 others wounded in the strike, Lebanese officials said.

Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader, was also assassinated in Iran. Iran vowed retaliation, but Israel didn't confirm or deny involvement in Haniyeh's killing.

Israel confirmed that they killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, a key figure in the October 7th attack, in an airstrike strike in southern Gaza last month.

The IDF said in a statement that its fighter jets “eliminated” Fuad Shukr, a senior official who serves as a close advisor to Hezbollah’s leader. A spokesman for Antonio Guterres, the United Nations security general, expressed “grave concern” about the deadly attack.

Israel launched the strike in retaliation for a rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that it blamed Hezbollah for, which killed 12 teenagers and children on a soccer field, according to three Israeli security officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. There was no confirmation of the killing from Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed group, and the claim could not be independently verified.

Many politicians and commentators on the right argued that Israel targeting Hezbollah military operations commander Shukr inside Beirut was a politically sensitive yet ultimately clever strategy. Other commentators on the right view Israel’s struggle against terrorism as an American one. Some on the left are against Israel’s lethal airstrikes, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is only raising tensions in the Middle East. Others on the left see Netanyahu’s actions as going against the opinions of ordinary Israelis.

In MSNBC (Left bias), Steve Benen wrote, “As regular readers might recall, it was just four months ago, for example, when the GOP nominee invoked a familiar dual loyalty trope by claiming that Jewish voters who support Democrats hate Israel.” The writer argued, “Donald Trump seems determined to convince voters that Vice President Kamala Harris is antisemitic.”

A writer for Fox News Opinion (Right bias) argued that “On July 24, 2024, during his fourth historic speech at a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exposed the Islamic regime of Iran as the greatest threat to civilization – an existential danger that the Obama and Biden-Harris administrations have not only ignored but also enabled, making the regime even more dangerous.” The writer added that “The first step is to acknowledge the problem, something almost every Democratic administration has chosen to ignore or pretend doesn’t exist…The regime understands the weaknesses of the free world, which lie at the core of its values of freedom and democracy.”

Bloomberg Opinion (Lean Left bias) columnist Marc Champion said, “Israel has killed dozens of Hamas and Hezbollah officials and militants over the years…But Haniyeh was the political face of Hamas, living in exile in Qatar, and the man responsible for handling negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza.” Champion concluded that “Hezbollah has long made clear that it will stop firing on northern Israel only once a cease-fire in Gaza has been reached…This agreement would include a political resolution for Gaza, stabilize Israel’s position in the region and isolate Iran.”

A piece by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Lean Right bias) stated that “The media is fretting about a broader war, but that war is already here and it’s as likely the strikes have a deterrent effect on Tehran.”