A drone strike in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold, killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday.
A drone struck a Hamas office, leaving six dead, Lebanon’s state news agency said.
Hamas confirmed al-Aruri’s death, calling it a “cowardly murder” by Israel, adding that attacks on Palestinians “inside and outside Palestine cannot break the will and steadfastness of our people or undermine the continuation of their valiant resistance. “.
“It demonstrates once again the abject failure of this enemy to achieve any of its aggressive objectives in the Gaza Strip,” the group said.
Following the news of al-Arouri’s death, a general strike was declared in Ramallah on Wednesday over his death and mourning at the mosque in Arura, an occupied West Bank city in northern Ramallah.
Here’s what you should know about the Hamas official killed in Lebanon.
Who was Saleh al-Arouri?
Al-Arouri, 57, was the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau and one of the founders of the group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
After spending 15 years in Israeli prison, he lived in exile in Lebanon. Before the war started on October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to kill him.
In 2015, the United States designated al-Aroori a “global terrorist” and offered a $5 million reward for any information about him.
What did Israel say about al-Arouri’s death?
While there has been no official response from Israel on the death of the Hamas leader, Mark Regev, an adviser to Netanyahu, told the American news site MSNBC that Israel does not claim responsibility for the attack. But he added: “Whoever did it, it must be clear: this was not an attack on the Lebanese state.”
“Whoever did this carried out a surgical strike against the leadership of Hamas,” he said.
But Danny Danon, Israel’s former UN envoy, welcomed the attack and congratulated the Israeli military, Shin Bet, the security service, and Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, for killing al-Arouri.
Since then, Israel’s relentless bombing and artillery shelling of Gaza has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, including more than 8,000 children.
What was the response from Lebanon?
Lebanon’s interim prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the attack in the suburb of Beruit, saying it was a “new Israeli crime” as well as an attempt to drag Lebanon into war.
Mikati also warned of “Israel’s political elite resorting to exporting its failures in Gaza to the southern border in order to impose new facts and change the rules of engagement.”
