JERUSALEM

Israel is ready to respond to any attack by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday.

A statement by the Israeli Defense Ministry said Gallant updated Austin on the “precise operation” carried out by Tel Aviv on Tuesday to eliminate senior Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukr.

The Israeli army confirmed that it had carried out an attack targeting Shukr in Beirut’s southern suburb Tuesday evening. Israel claimed that Shukr was the mastermind of Saturday’s missile attack that killed 12 people in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Hezbollah has denied any responsibility for the deadly attack.

The Lebanese group confirmed that Shukr was inside the building hit by Israel, but said his fate was still unknown. At least four people were killed and 80 others injured in the attack.

Israel “does not seek war, but the IDF (army) remains prepared to defend its citizens and to respond to any attack by Hezbollah,” Gallant said.

The statement did not mention Wednesday’s assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Hamas and Iran blamed Israel for the killing, but Tel Aviv has not yet confirmed or denied its involvement.

Haniyeh was killed following an Israeli airstrike on his residence in Tehran, a day after he attended the inauguration of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

At least 39,445 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly ten months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio