Overview
Fu’ad Shukr was a senior Hezbollah commander and member of the group’s Jihad Council, the Lebanese terror group’s highest military body. He was also a senior military adviser to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. “Wanted – Fuad Shukr,” Rewards for Justice, accessed October 11, 2017, https://rewardsforjustice.net/english/fuad_shukr.html. Shukr reportedly replaced Hezbollah military chief Mustafa Badreddine after his 2016 death.“Who Are the Two Hezbollah Military Commanders Wanted by the U.S.?” Haaretz, October 11, 2017, https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.816723. On October 10, 2017, the U.S. government offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on Shukr.“Rewards for Justice - Reward Offer for Information on Hizballah Key Leaders Talal Hamiyah and Fu'ad Shukr,” U.S. Department of State, October 10, 2017, https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/10/274722.htm. Shukr died in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on July 30, 2024.Alex Smith and Hugo Bachega, “Hezbollah confirms commander died in Israeli strike,” BBC News, July 31, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cldy0zpyq77o.
The U.S. government accused Shukr of playing a “central role” in Hezbollah’s 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. service personnel.“Wanted – Fuad Shukr,” Rewards for Justice, accessed October 11, 2017, https://rewardsforjustice.net/english/fuad_shukr.html. In 1994, Shukr allegedly traveled to Tehran on behalf of Hezbollah to retrieve a batch of U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The CIA had transferred the missiles to Afghan rebel forces during the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980s. Several of the missiles remained unaccounted for after the war’s conclusion. The IRGC later purchased the missiles from Afghan warlords. The U.S. government acknowledged that Hezbollah may have taken possession of some of the missiles but insisted that they did not function properly.James Risen, “A NATION CHALLENGED: INTELLIGENCE; Report Says Iran Gave Terrorists U.S. Arms,” New York Times, January 12, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/12/world/a-nation-challenged-intelligence-report-says-iran-gave-terrorists-us-arms.html.
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Shukr aided Hezbollah fighters and pro-Syrian regime troops against opposition forces during the Syrian civil war. The Treasury Department sanction-designated Shukr in July 2015 because of his involvement in the war, which Treasury labeled as “vital” to Hezbollah’s military successes in Syria.“Treasury Sanctions Hizballah Leaders, Military Officials, And An Associate In Lebanon,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 21, 2015, https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0121.aspx.
On October 10, 2017, the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on Shukr and a $7 million reward for Hezbollah operative Talal Hamiyah.“Rewards for Justice - Reward Offer for Information on Hizballah Key Leaders Talal Hamiyah and Fu'ad Shukr,” U.S. Department of State, October 10, 2017, https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/10/274722.htm. A senior Hezbollah official told Reuters that the group rejects U.S. accusations against Shukr and Hamiyah, which “will not affect the work of the resistance at all.”“Hezbollah dismisses U.S. rewards for arrest of its operatives,” Reuters, October 11, 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lebanon-hezbollah/hezbollah-dismisses-u-s-rewards-for-arrest-of-its-operatives-idUSKBN1CG2IX.
On July 27, 2024, a rocket fired from Lebanon killed at least 12 and wounded more than 30 on a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel’s Golan Heights. All the fatalities were between the ages of 10 and 20. Hezbollah initially claimed responsibility for launching a barrage of Katyusha rockets and a single heavy Falaq rocket at a nearby military base, but the terror group denied responsibility for the strike on the soccer field. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Hezbollah’s denial and promised that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid.”Maayan Lubell , Maya Gebeily, and Laila Bassam, “Israel says Hezbollah rocket kills 12 at football ground, vows response,” Reuters, July 27, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/nine-people-killed-rocket-hits-football-pitch-israeli-occupied-golan-israel-2024-07-27/. Israel accused Shukr of masterminding the July 27 rocket attack. On July 30, an Israeli airstrike targeted Shukr in an eight-story residential building in the Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik. The strike reportedly killed five other people, including children. After excavating the rubble, Hezbollah confirmed Shukr’s death on July 31. According to a Hezbollah media officer, Shukr had been on one of the bottom levels of the building. Nasrallah called the Israeli strike a “major crime” and promised retaliation.Suzan Haidamous, Sarah Dadouch, Mohamad El Chamaa, and Kareem Fahim, “Lebanon mourns victims of Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah commander,” Washington Post, July 31, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/31/hezbollah-beirut-israel-strike-funerals/. Shukr was buried on August 1 in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Promising “inevitable retaliation” during a speech at the funeral, Nasrallah labeled Shukr’s death an “aggression” that was “part of the U.S.-Israeli war on our region.”Don Jacobson, “Hezbollah leader vows retaliation against Israel at funeral of slain commander,” United Press International, August 1, 2024, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/08/01/lebanon-Hezbollah-leader-vows-retaliation-against-Israel-funeral-slain-commander/8231722547751/.
Associated Groups
- Extremist entity
- Hezbollah
- Read Threat Report
- Type(s) of Organization:
- Militia, political party, social-service provider, terrorist, transnational, violent
- Ideologies and Affiliations:
- Iranian-sponsored, Islamist, jihadist, Khomeinist, Shiite
- Position(s):
- Senior military adviser to Hassan Nasrallah (deceased)
Hezbollah is an Iranian-sponsored, internationally sanctioned terrorist group with an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. agenda. Hezbollah is primarily based in Lebanon, but has carried out terrorist and criminal operations around the world.
History
United States
The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Fu’ad Shukr as a Specially Designated National on July 21, 2015.“Counter Terrorism Designations; Syria Designations,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 21, 2015, https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20150721.aspx.
Daily Dose
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers.