According to several sources, the Deputy Head of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated by Israel in a drone attack on the Beirut Suburb of Dahiyeh.
Political officer Saleh al-Arouri’s death has now been formally announced by Hamas. Although the strike has been confirmed previously by several sources, including Israeli media, the IDF has not officially accepted credit for it:
Hamas’s deputy leader abroad Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah-linked al-Mayadeen reports.
…Based in Lebanon, al-Arouri, 57, was deputy head of the terror group’s political bureau and considered the de facto leader of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank.
Israeli intelligence officials believe that al-Arouri also helped plan the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens — Gil-ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel — as well as numerous other attacks.
He had served several terms in Israeli jails, and was released in March 2010 as part of efforts to reach a larger prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit, an IDF corporal kidnapped by Hamas in 2006
Arouri is one of the highest senior Hamas members to have ever been assassinated by Israel. He was the founding commander of Hamas’ military arm, the Qassam Brigades, and the deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau. According to Hamas, the attack also claimed the lives of two additional Qassam Brigades fighters.
Three missiles fired from a low-flying Israeli drone targeted the building, killing six individuals in total, according to an Al-Mayadeen correspondent in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Given that Hezbollah, Iran’s proxies in Lebanon, has already intensified its attacks on northern Israel and is predicted to do so further, this escalating situation has raised further concerns that Iran may become more extensively involved.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel has begun flooding Gaza tunnels, citing US sources familiar with the Israeli military operation.
Israel promises to carry out additional targeted killings of prominent Hamas officials in the future.
According to recent reports from AFP and Lebanese official media, Israel has struck a Hamas office located in a suburb of Beirut.
According to Lebanese security sources, an explosion in Beirut’s southern suburbs—which are also thought to be Hezbollah strongholds—killed a prominent Palestinian figure. Still, not much of it has been confirmed as of yet. Breaking news wires claim that:
DEPUTY HEAD OF HAMAS POLITBURO KILLED IN BEIRUT: MAYADEEN TV
The Dahieh district of Beirut has seen a significant explosion, as confirmed by Sarah Dadouch, the Washington Post’s Beirut writer. She writes, “A Hezbollah spokesman told me a Palestinian official headquarters was targeted in Dahieh.”
An Israeli drone is said to have targeted the Hamas office in Dahieh, according to a statement carried by Lebanese official media. Emergency services are still on the site as of this writing, according to Lebanese News Agency, who is reporting four dead and several wounded from the attack.
The Israeli military has carried out similar targeted strikes on Beirut offices during previous large outbreaks of fighting between the Palestinians and Israel, but Hezbollah, which provides these Palestinian factions with cover, will undoubtedly view this as a significant escalation.