Palestinian factions fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv in response to the targeting of Saleh Al-Arouri with a drone at an office belonging to the Hamas movement in the Lebanese capital, Beirut on 2nd Jan.
Identical Palestinian sources in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements confirmed on Tuesday, that the Israeli occupation army targeted the Deputy Head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri, in Beirut, explaining that his martyrdom has not yet been confirmed. Hamas confirmed the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the movement’s political bureau in the southern suburb of Beirut.
The movement said in a statement: “The chief of staff of the resistance in the West Bank and Gaza and the architect of the Al-Aqsa flood on the 7th of October – the great national leader, Sheikh Al-Qassami Saleh Al-Arouri, is a martyr.”
The Lebanese News Agency announced that 4 people were killed in the Israeli bombing that targeted the Hamas office in Mushrifiyah, in the southern suburb of Beirut.
The Lebanese News Agency said that a hostile Israeli march targeted a Hamas office in Al-Musharrafieh, near Al-Sharq Sweets, in the capital, Beirut, and some people were wounded.
The Lebanese agency explained that ambulances arrived in the area to transport the injured.
Reuters quoted two security sources as saying that a senior Palestinian official was killed in an explosion in the southern suburb of Beirut.
Who is Saleh Al-Arouri?
Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, was a prominent name on Israel’s hit list and the highest-ranking member of the group to have been killed so far.
As well as being deputy to Ismail Haniyeh since 2017, Al-Arouri was a founding commander of Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
He was also on the US Treasury’s sanctions list for allegedly being a financier for the group and facilitating weapon transfers since 1987 when Hamas was formed during the first Palestinian uprising against Israel.
The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Al-Arouri’s death came a day before Iran commemorates the anniversary of losing its top general, Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on Jan. 3, 2020.
Al-Arouri had been a member of Hamas’ Politburo since 2010 but rose to prominence in August 2014 when he told a conference in Turkiye that the militant group was responsible for the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers from a West Bank settlement.
Israel and the US also believe he was involved in the funding and training of the Hamas fighters who carried out the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which saw 1,200 people killed and 240 taken hostage.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign against the Gaza Strip, which has so far seen the deaths of at least 22,000 Palestinians.
Also Read: https://usateller.com/exacerbating-the-dispute-between-biden-and-netanyahu/
