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Israel Says Wants to End Hostilities Without 'Wider War' But Ready 'For Any Scenario'

Damaged vehicles are seen after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024 in this screen grab from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Damaged vehicles are seen after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024 in this screen grab from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
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Israel Says Wants to End Hostilities Without 'Wider War' But Ready 'For Any Scenario'

Damaged vehicles are seen after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024 in this screen grab from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Damaged vehicles are seen after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024 in this screen grab from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights

The Israeli military said late Tuesday that it wanted to avoid any wider war with Hezbollah but that its forces were ready for "any scenario".

"Hezbollah's ongoing aggression and brutal attacks are dragging the people of Lebanon and the entire Middle East into a wider escalation," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

"While we prefer to resolve hostilities without a wider war," the army is "fully prepared for any scenario," he said.

In this regard, UN's special coordinator for Lebanon on Tuesday voiced concern after the Israeli strike.

"UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert is deeply concerned by tonight's strike," the envoy's office said in a statement, adding that she "underscores once again that there is no such thing as a military solution" to the ongoing conflict.

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Hezbollah: Fuad Shukr Was in Building Targeted by Israeli Strike

People walk on the rubble of a damaged site the day after an Israeli strike, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 31, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People walk on the rubble of a damaged site the day after an Israeli strike, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 31, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Hezbollah: Fuad Shukr Was in Building Targeted by Israeli Strike

People walk on the rubble of a damaged site the day after an Israeli strike, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 31, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People walk on the rubble of a damaged site the day after an Israeli strike, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 31, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon's Hezbollah said early on Wednesday its senior commander Fuad Shukr was in the building in the southern suburbs of Beirut targeted by an Israeli strike, but it did not confirm his fate.
Hezbollah's long-awaited statement on Wednesday said Israel had attacked a residential building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold for the group, and that "a number of citizens" had been killed and others wounded.
It said Fuad Shukr "was present in this building at the time," but that the group was still waiting for definitive results on his fate.
Israel's military announced late on Tuesday it had killed Shukr, whom it named as Hezbollah's most senior commander and blamed for an attack at the weekend that left a dozen youths dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The White House, which previously also attributed Saturday's attack to Hezbollah, reiterated its commitment to Israel's security against "all Iran-backed threats including Hezbollah" and said it was working on a diplomatic solution.
Lebanon's foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said his government condemned the Israeli strike and planned to file a complaint to the United Nations.
"We were not expecting them to hit Beirut and they hit Beirut," he told Reuters, saying he hoped Hezbollah's response would not trigger an escalation.
"Hopefully any response will be proportionate and will not be more than that, so that this wave of killing, hitting and shelling will stop," he said.

On Wednesday morning, Lebanon's civil defence teams were on the ground in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, clearing rubble from the strike, according to a Reuters witness.
Hezbollah set up a security cordon around the area but granted limited access to reporters to film.
The attack appeared to have shorn off the top corner of a multi-storey building and scattered bits of charred debris onto the surroundings buildings and streets.
There were no other residents in sight.

The Israeli strike killed a woman and two children, medical and security sources told Reuters late Tuesday.