A senior Hamas leader was killed Tuesday in a drone strike in Beirut, Lebanon, during a meeting between Palestinian factions at a Hamas office.
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of Hamas’s political bureau and commander of the terror group’s military wing in the West Bank, and at least five others died from the explosion, which occurred near Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported. Several more were injured. Following the blast, Hamas blamed Israel for the “Zionist raid” amid its ongoing war with the Jewish state. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
Many Israeli officials declined to comment. However, Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a statement on X shortly after the attack: “Surely your enemies will perish, O Israel.”
In November, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated he ordered the nation’s Mossad spy agency to eliminate Hamas leaders around the world after the militant group’s coordinated October 7 attack. Netanyahu’s office also declined to comment about the explosion.
Al-Arouri, whom Hamas described as “one of the architects” of the terror attack on Israel, had close ties with Yahwa Sinwar, the group’s leader in Gaza. Al-Arouri is the most senior Hamas leader to have been killed since the war began in early October.
Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack and called it “an Israeli crime” that aims to provoke Lebanon into the war in Gaza.
“This explosion is definitely an implication of Lebanon and a clear response to the efforts that we are making to remove the specter of the ongoing war in Gaza from Lebanon, and we call on the countries concerned to put pressure on Israel to stop its targeting,” Mikati said.
It’s possible Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, could retaliate against Israel, considering the group’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah previously threatened military force if any assassination attempts were made on Lebanese soil.
Axios political reporter Barak Ravid posted on X that a senior Israeli official told him Israel is preparing for such a retaliation by Hezbollah, which could involve firing long-range missiles at Israel.
The Israeli military’s conflict with Hezbollah so far has been limited to repeated skirmishes along the Israel-Lebanon border, while Israeli soldiers continue their ground, air, and sea offensive in the Gaza Strip. Al-Arouri’s death will further escalate the tension between Lebanon and Israel, and possibly spark an all-out war between the two countries.