Deputy Hamas Leader Killed by Israel in Beirut

The deputy chairman of the political bureau of the terrorist group Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Beirut.
Aruri, one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, led the Palestinian group in the West Bank. Accused by Israel of being behind numerous attacks, he was appointed deputy to Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in 2017.
After spending a total of almost twenty years in Israeli prisons, he was released in 2010 on the condition that he go into exile, and has been living in Lebanon ever since.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his country to eliminate al-Aruri even before the start of the war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, 2023.
"Martyrdom of the deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau, Sheikh Saleh al-Aruri, in a Zionist strike in Beirut," the movement said in a statement broadcast on its official channel, Al-Aqsa TV, and other media.
Hamas vowed that al-Aruri's killing would not "undermine the continued courageous resistance" in Gaza, where the Palestinian militant group is fighting Israeli forces.
"This once again proves the complete failure of the enemy to achieve any of its aggressive goals in the Gaza Strip," said senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishk.
Two Lebanese security officials said Aruri was killed along with his bodyguards in an Israeli strike targeting a Hamas office in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a base of operations for pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the blast killed six people and was carried out by an Israeli drone.
An explosion rocked the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital and caused chaos in the stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah.
On several occasions, the Israeli Air Force has struck Hezbollah targets deeper inside Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the Israeli strike as a "crime".
He stated that "this new Israeli crime aims to drag Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation" with Israel. Clashes between the Israeli army and Lebanon's Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, have so far been confined to the border areas in southern Lebanon.
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said its fighters carried out several attacks along the Lebanese-Israeli border targeting Israeli military posts. /BGNES