The Israeli military said it carried out a targeted strike in Beirut on Tuesday against Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah commander it said was responsible for a strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers at the weekend.
A loud blast was heard and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs—a stronghold of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah—at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), a Reuters witness said.
"The IDF carried out a targeted strike in Beirut, on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
It said it had issued no new instructions for civil defense in Israel following the strike.
The IDF confirmed that Shukr was killed in the strike.
Shukr, also known as al-Hajj Mohsin, was a close adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and was wanted by the U.S. government for his role in "numerous terrorist attacks against Americans," including the 1983 Marine barracks bombing that killed more than 200 American soldiers.
Lebanon's state-run national news agency said an Israeli strike had targeted the area around Hezbollah's Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of the capital.
Beirut has been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in retaliation for a strike on the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights that killed a dozen youngsters.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Timour Azhari; Editing by Gareth Jones)