Overview

Fu’ad Shukr is a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the Lebanese terror group’s highest military body. He is 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.

The U.S. government accuses 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 has 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.