BEIRUT — The number two of Hamas was killed this Tuesday in a bombing attributed to Israel near Beirut, Hamas and Lebanese security officials announced, stoking fears of a conflagration of the conflict waged by the Israeli army and the terrorist group’s fighters in Gaza.
Saleh Al Aruri, exiled in Lebanon for several years, died along with his bodyguards in a bombing attributed to the Israeli army in the south of Beirut, a stronghold of the pro-Iranian terrorist movement Hezbollah, two Lebanese security officials said.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh confirmed Al Aruri’s death, calling the attack a “terrorist act.” According to him, the Palestinian movement “will never be defeated.”
Reports from the Lebanese national news agency (Ani) reveal that at least seven terrorists were killed in the bombing, carried out with a drone. Haniyeh, in turn, claimed that two leaders of the Ezedin al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, had been killed in the attack, along with four other leaders of the group.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army, when consulted on the issue, stated that it did not comment on “information from foreign media.” Its spokesman, Daniel Hagari, stressed that the armed force was prepared for “any scenario.”
Aruri’s death rekindles fears of a regional conflagration more than two months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
The conflict broke out after the attack by the Hamas group in Israel on October 7, which left 1,140 dead, mostly civilians.
Hamas terrorists, along with other armed groups, also kidnapped some 250 people that day, of whom more than 100 are still held in Gaza.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched a powerful offensive into the Palestinian territory. The group, classified as a “terrorist” organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, claims that the operation has already left 22,185 dead, a figure without independent confirmation.
Hezbollah threatens
Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and backed by Iran, warned that the terrorist leader’s death “will not go unanswered or unpunished.”
The border between Israel and Lebanon was the scene of almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah terrorists since the start of the war. But it is the first time that a bombing has hit the surroundings of Beirut since October 7.
It is also the first time that such a high-ranking Hamas leader has been killed since the beginning of the conflict. The Israeli army announced several times that it had killed leaders of the Islamist group in Gaza.
Many residents gathered at night near the bombed building in the Beirut suburb, whose façade was damaged on two floors.
The death of Aruri, who spent nearly 20 years in Israeli prisons, will not stop the “resistance,” Ezzat al Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political office, reacted in a statement. His home in the West Bank was destroyed by the Israeli army in late October.
Fight against Hamas continues
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant agreed Tuesday, saying that “the idea that we could stop soon is wrong.”
“Without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East,” he added, after visiting a contingent of soldiers in the narrow Palestinian enclave, where 173 Israeli soldiers have died since the war broke out.
Source: With information from AFP
