Deputy Hamas Leader Saleh al-Arouri ‘Assassinated in Lebanon by Israeli Drone Strike’

Deputy Hamas Leader Saleh al-Arouri ‘Assassinated in Lebanon by Israeli Drone Strike’

Chris Menahan

Israel reportedly assassinated Deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday with a drone strike that killed four Palestinians and three Lebanese.

From Reuters, “Hamas’ Arouri was a key player until death in sudden Beirut strike”:

CAIRO, Jan 2 (Reuters) – Deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri had long expected the Israeli drone strike that security sources said killed him in Beirut on Tuesday, three months after his group’s surprise cross-border assault that triggered a devastating war in Gaza.

“I am waiting for martyrdom and think that I lived too long,” he said in August, as he urged Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to take up arms amid a surge of violence.

His killing comes at a defining moment for the organisation, as Israel attempts to eradicate it in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas fighters rampaged across the border, killing 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages.

Israel has long accused him of lethal attacks on its citizens, but a Hamas official said he was also “at the heart of negotiations” over the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of hostages conducted by Qatar and Egypt.

Sky News has more:

Hezbollah has said the blast that killed al Arouri was a “serious assault on Lebanon”.

The Lebanese militant group also said the death of al Arouri is a “dangerous development in the course of the war”.

Hezbollah added that the killing “will not go without a response or punishment” and said the “axis of resistance” – a coalition of anti-Israeli and anti-Western groups backed by Iran – has its “finger on the trigger”.

Meanwhile, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said the “martyr’s blood will undoubtedly ignite another surge in the veins of resistance and motivation to fight” against Israel.

al-Arouri’s family said they welcomed his martyrdom:

 

 

 

Israel last month announced plans to assassinate Hamas leaders in sovereign countries throughout the world.

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