Hezbollah military commander claimed killed by Israel was blamed by the US for 1983 Marine bombing
Associated PressBEIRUT — The Hezbollah commander who the Israeli military says it killed in an airstrike Tuesday had been blamed by Israel for a deadly weekend rocket attack and was accused by the U.S. of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen. If Israel’s claim proves true, Shukur would be the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed since 2016, when Mustafa Badreddine, the group’s military commander in Syria, died in an explosion in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The Israeli military said that Shukur had directed Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since Oct. 8, after the Israel-Hamas war erupted, and that he was also involved in “the killing of numerous Israelis and foreign nationals over the years.” It said Shukur was responsible for the majority of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets and UAVs. Shukur, who was a member of Hezbollah’s Jihadi Council, the group’s top military body, was accused by the United States of planning and staging the truck bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American service members.