Death of Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr raises questions about America’s commitment to justice

In the wake of the horrific rocketing of a playground in which dozens of Israeli children were killed and wounded, the IDF quickly and decisively meted out justice upon Hezbollah with a strike in Beirut that killed high-ranking Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr.

While the IDF is to be congratulated for its successful operation to eliminate this jihadist, the incident raises serious questions about America’s commitment to bringing terrorists to justice.

Israel was able to locate, plan and successfully execute the targeted killing of Shukr, second in command of the Lebanese terrorist organization, within days of the playground attack.

Those who pay attention to such things couldn’t help but recall that Shukr was on America’s list of most wanted terrorists in the so-called “Rewards for Justice” program:

In fact the US was offering a $5 million reward for information on Shukr:

Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on Fuad Shukr, also known as al-Hajj Mohsin. Shukr is a senior advisor on military affairs to Hasan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) Hizballah. Shukr serves on Hizballah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, and has aided Hizballah fighters and pro-Syrian regime troops in Hizballah’s military campaign against Syrian opposition forces in Syria.

Shukr was a close associate of now-deceased Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyah. Shukr played a central role in the October 23, 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut which killed 241 U.S. military personnel and wounded 128 others.

On September 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of State designated Shukr as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended. Previously, on July 21, 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Shukr pursuant to Executive Order 13582 for acting for or on behalf of Hizballah. As a result of these designations, among other consequences, all property and interests in property of Shukr that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Shukr. In addition, it is a crime to knowingly provide, or attempt or conspire to provide, material support or resources to FTO Hizballah.

Shukr played a “central role” in the U.S. Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut on 23 October 1983. 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers, along with a number of Lebanese civilians, were killed in that horrific attack. This is where the questions mount.

How is it that Israel was able to locate and terminate Fuad Shukr within days of the rocket attack on the playground in Israel, yet for 41 years the U.S. was seemingly unable to locate Shukr and bring him to justice, dead or alive?

Did America’s intelligence community (CIA in particular) and agencies charged with counterterrorism (FBI) know Shukr’s whereabouts? Had a decision been made not to go after Shukr?

Hezbollah didn’t just target US servicemen in 1983, they also kidnapped and murdered CIA personnel and US servicemen in Lebanon later in the 1980s. One might think that professional pride would encourage the CIA to proactively hunt one of the men responsible. Does our intelligence community and bureaucratized counterterror apparatus have a statute of limitations on mass murder that the rest of us don’t know about?

Was it considered too risky to target him? Presumably members of the Marine Corps’ MARSOC Raiders of Special Operations Command would be highly motivated to have pursued Shukr. Indeed, given Hezbollah’s role in training Iranian-backed Shia militias who fought and killed numerous US troops in Iraq, one would presume that any number of U.S. military units in all branches would be anxious for pay back.

If a decision had been made not to target Shukr, is the Rewards for Justice program just meaningless propaganda to pump up America’s bureaucratized counterterrorism apparatus?

Or was it a matter of what is essentially a pro-Hezbollah policy?

The truth is, U.S. policy for decades has not only given Hezbollah a pass for its murder of Americans, but it has actively protected the terror group from retaliation by Israel. The U.S. immediately responded to the attack on the playground in Northern Israel by urging restraint, and calling for Israel to “de-escalate.” U.S. policy continues to emphasize the providing of military support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), despite it’s close integration with Hezbollah. Since the beginning of hostilities October 7^th, 2023, U.S. has sought to avoid significant harm to Iranian-back militias which launched attacks against U.S. troops in the region by striking at largely empty bases following preemptive warnings issued to Iran.

The U.S. could learn much from the strike against Fuad Shukr and the Israeli approach to counterterrorism generally. But perhaps the most important thing it should learn is that justice delayed, is justice denied.