Hamas number two dies in an alleged Israeli drone offensive in Beirut

Lebanese media reported the death of six people from two drone attacks. Israeli authorities did not claim responsibility for the attack.

Captura de pantalla del lugar en el que murió el número dos de Hamás durante un ataque mediante drones en el Líbano. — (YouTube: The Independent)

Published by

Rosana Rábago Sainz

2 de enero, 2024

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Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas' number two, died Tuesday night during an alleged Israeli drone offensive in Beirut, Lebanon. Several Lebanese media outlets reported the death of al-Arouri, along with five others, from two drones reportedly belonging to the Israeli army.

As detailed by the AP, the event took place in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, where one of the main strongholds of the Hezbollah terrorist group is located. There, two drones fired at a building and a vehicle, killing six people, including Saleh al-Arouri. After the attack, various Lebanese media report, several citizens sighted Israeli fighter planes over Beirut and Khalde, as well as in other areas of Lebanon.

#VIDEO: This is how the building where Hamas' number two, Salah al Arouri, was in Beirut, Lebanon, was left after the explosion that killed him. According to reports, it was an IDF offensive carried out with drones.

The Lebanese media were quick to attribute responsibility for the attack to Israel. However, neither the Israeli government nor the Israel Defense Forces claimed responsibility for the offensive, saying that they do not make statements to foreign media.

Mark Regev, advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, did speak. He assured to MSNBC in statements reported by Reuters that Israel had not taken responsibility for the attack but that he was sure that the offensive was not "an attack on the Lebanese state":

Whoever did it, it must be clear: That this was not attack an attack on the Lebanese state. Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership.

Threats from Hamas and Hezbollah

Reactions to the death of Saleh al-Arouri were immediate. Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of the terrorist organization, assured in statements reported by The Jerusalem Post that the attack would not be able to break "the will and steadfastness of our people":

The cowardly assassinations carried out by the Zionist occupation against the leaders and symbols of our Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people, or undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance, and they prove once again the abject failure of this enemy to achieve any of its aggressive goals in the Gaza Strip.

Harsher were the words of Mikati, the interim Lebanese prime minister. He condemned the attack and ensured that the offensive forced Lebanon to enter a "new phase of confrontations" against Israel: "The explosion is an Israeli crime that definitely aims to bring Lebanon into a new phase of confrontations after the ongoing daily attacks in the south," he declared.