Hezbollah has said that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was inside the building in Beirut’s southern suburbs hit by Israel the previous day and that his fate was still unknown, AFP reports.

The Israeli military said its Tuesday strike had “eliminated” Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander it said was responsible for carrying out a weekend rocket attack on the annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children.

Hezbollah said in a statement that “the great jihadist commander brother Fuad Shukr (Hajj Mohsen) was present” in the building targeted by “the Zionist enemy”.

Rescue teams “have been working since the incident happened… to remove the rubble… and we are still waiting for the results of this operation regarding the fate of the great commander and other citizens” who were also in the building, the statement said.

In a provisional toll, Lebanon’s health ministry said three civilians — a woman and two children — were killed in the strike.

The Israeli army has described Shukr as Hezbollah’s “most senior military commander” and “right-hand man” to the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah.