A person holds a placard displaying the photo of late Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri during the funeral of Ahmad Hammoud, who was killed along with al-Arouri in what security sources said was an Israeli drone strike in Beirut on Tuesday, in Burj al-Shemali in Tyre, Lebanon, January 3, 2024(photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)
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According to the report, it is not yet clear from the investigation whether the assassination was carried out by a fighter jet or a UAV.
Hezbollah warned Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri that “Israel was following him” days before his assassination, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with the terror organization.
The terror organization also told Arouri explicitly that “Israel is following his every move.”
According to the report, it is not yet clear from the investigation whether the assassination was carried out by a fighter jet or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Lebanese newspaper emphasized that it turned out that before the assassination, radars had detected the presence of fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles over Beirut and the Dahieh suburb, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the city. They managed to penetrate two floors before reaching the room where the Hamas men were staying.
Al-Akhbar also reported that the missiles used in the attack were small but carried a warhead containing very deadly substances. These missiles were not intended to destroy the building but only to eliminate the senior Hamas officials staying there. Lebanese reports said the offices where the attack was carried out were evacuated after October 7, and the day the assassination took place was the first time they were used. The meeting was attended by Arouri, who had returned to Beirut a few days earlier after traveling between Qatar and Turkey.
Last night, the Lebanese media network reported that in the attack in which al-Arouri and six other Hamas operatives were killed, five others were wounded whose identity has not yet been confirmed for publication.
After the assassination, Lebanese sources claimed that through the assassination, “Israel sought to achieve more than one message.” First, the sources claimed that Israel wanted to show that it was able to penetrate the central area of Hezbollah in Beirut. According to them, Israel also wanted to exert the strongest pressure in order to speed up negotiations, while in the background, the report claimed that “Israel is frustrated by the failed military operation against Hamas in Gaza, which did not achieve any of the achievements it was looking for.”
Netanyahu threatened Arouri – Lebanese media
In Lebanon, they also commented at length on the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who threatened Arouri at the cabinet meeting last August: “He knows very well why he and his friends are in hiding.” According to Netanyahu, “Hamas and other branches of Iran understand very well that we will fight with all means against their attempts to create terrorism against us – in the West Bank, in Gaza, and anywhere else. Whoever tries to harm us, whoever finances, organizes, or sends terror against Israel, will pay the full price.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the assassination and called it a “new Israeli crime.” He also said that the purpose of the explosion was “to drag Lebanon into a new phase of conflict in a sophisticated manner.” The Lebanese Foreign Minister also said that the country’s government and people “don’t want a war and are afraid to be dragged into a regional war.”
Hezbollah explicitly threatened: “The crime of assassinating al-Arouri will not go unpunished.” They also added that “the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri is a dangerous development during the war between the enemy and the axis of resistance.” A Hezbollah member of parliament even said: “We will respond.”
The terrorist organization also said in reference to the fighting in Gaza that “the enemy, who after 90 days failed to subdue Gaza, is pursuing a policy of elimination and physical elimination of everyone who worked, planned, carried out or supported the al-Aqsa flood operation.” As for the Lebanese people, they said that “the assassination of al-Arouri in the heart of the southern suburb of Beirut is a dangerous attack on Lebanon, its residents, its security, sovereignty and resistance. The crime of assassinating Sheikh Saleh al-Aaruri and his friends will never go unpunished.”
