Senior Hamas leader killed in reported Israeli attack in Beirut

Israel on Tuesday bombed a building in Beirut and killed a top Hamas official, according to Lebanese news channels.

The alleged assassination killed Saleh al-Arouri, who was the deputy chief of the political bureau for Hamas in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

Lebanese state media reported four people were killed in a drone strike in southern Beirut.

The reported bombing would mark the boldest attack in Lebanon yet from Israel, which has traded fire with Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah since war broke out with Hamas in early October.

The tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Hezbollah have been deadly, but have largely taken place over the border in skirmishes and artillery fire.

But Israel says it is fighting a multi-arena war against Iranian-backed enemies. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Iran.

Israeli soldiers also carried out a strike in Syria in late December that killed a top Iranian general.

Palestinian militants have vowed to avenge al-Arouri’s death. Hamas official Izzat Al-Rishq called the alleged bombing a “cowardly assassination” that “will not succeed in breaking the will and resilience of our people, or in undermining the continuity of its valiant resistance.”

“They prove once again the utter failure of this enemy in achieving any of its aggressive objectives in the Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement shared on an Iranian-backed Telegram channel.

Israel has not publicly commented on the alleged strike, which killed the highest-ranking Hamas official since the war began nearly three months ago.

al-Arouri joined the politburo, or main decision-making body of Hamas, in 2010. He was appointed to be deputy chairman of the body in October 2017 and was the leader of the Hamas movement in the West Bank, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations. He was also a founder of Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

He was involved in several high-level discussions in recent years, including the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011 in return for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has vowed to completely destroy Hamas in retaliation for a deadly Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 people. Some 240 hostages were also taken by Hamas fighters, with 129 still left in the Gaza strip. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the mission includes not just dismantling the military infrastructure of Hamas, but also taking out is top leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the head of the group’s military wing.

Updated 1:01 p.m. Jan. 2.