[Video transcript]

It was a question of when, not if, Israel would retaliate, after a projectile hit a soccer field in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and killed 12 children and teenagers. Israel blamed Hezbollah and warned the militant group it would pay a heavy price.

Israel's response was a rare air strike on the outskirts of Beirut. Lebanon’s health ministry said the attack killed at least one woman and two children, and wounded dozens. 

The Israeli military says the strike was targeted, and killed a top Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shukur.

Israeli Military Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari: "Fuad Shukr was the right-hand man to Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader and his advisor in planning and directing attacks and operations."

The United States says Shukr orchestrated the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 US military personnel, and had put a bounty of $5 million on his head.

He has been one of the group's leading military figures since it was established by Iran's Revolutionary Guards more than four decades ago

After the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, Shukur was accused by Israel of being behind many of the drone and missile attacks that Hezbollah carried out against Israel.  

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 Damascus.

The strike has threatened to escalate hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah at a time when tensions are already running hot. The UN is urging calm, fearful that the region could be on the brink of a wider war.