1704217831 Hamas reports assassination of leader in Beirut news

Hamas reports assassination of leader in Beirut news

explosion

The deputy head of the Islamic Hamas political office, Saleh al-Aruri, was reportedly killed in an explosion in Beirut. According to multiple reports, Hamas and two Lebanese security officials confirmed Aruri's “assassination” in their official media outlets on Tuesday.

02.01.2024 17.33

Online since today, 5:33 pm

Shortly before, the dpa, among others, had reported on Aruri's death. The dpa learned of this from Hezbollah militia circles after the explosion on Tuesday night. The Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar television station also reported that Aruri was dead.

Lebanese state media initially reported that four people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office in a Beirut suburb. “A hostile Israeli drone struck a Hamas office in al-Musharrafiya, near al-Shark Sweets,” Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.

Saleh al-Arouri, 2017

AP/Nariman El-Mofty The deputy head of the Islamic Hamas political office, Saleh al-Aruri, 2017

Hezbollah militia stronghold

“The vice-president of the Hamas political office, Sheikh Saleh al-Aruri, was martyred in a Zionist attack in Beirut,” Hamas announced on its official television channel al-Aqsa TV and in its other media outlets. An AFP photographer at the scene in Beirut saw two floors of a building destroyed and vehicles damaged. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the attack.

The area is a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia. The information cannot be independently verified. The Israeli military told the BBC it would not comment on foreign media reports.

People and vehicles in front of a damaged building in Beirut

Portal/Ahmad Al-Kerdi Four people were reportedly killed in the attack on a Hamas office in a Beirut suburb

It is the first Israeli attack on a target in the Lebanese capital since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 – and the first targeted killing of a senior Palestinian official by Israel. Until now, clashes between the Israeli army and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah – an ally of the Palestinian Hamas – have been limited to the border areas in southern Lebanon.