AMMAN, Jordan — A senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has been killed in what it believes to be an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, according to Hamas media networks.
Saleh Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing and a deputy chief of the group’s political bureau.
Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack. But if later confirmed, it would be the country’s first assassination of a top Hamas official since the start of the war in Gaza in October.
Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV channel announced the killing Tuesday in what it called a “Zionist strike.” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an alleged Israeli drone strike caused an explosion in one of Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing four people.
Israeli leaders vowed after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel that they would assassinate leaders of the organization in any country they found them.
Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia, backed by Iran, said if Israel did kill Hamas leaders, it would retaliate.
Hezbollah and Israel have so far been attacking each other near the Israel-Lebanon border since the war in Gaza began.
Other militant Palestinian factions said they would respond with full force to Tuesday’s reported assassination of Arouri.
Arouri had been jailed by Israel and was deported to Turkey after being released in 2010. In Beirut, he served as a liaison between Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as with Turkey and other countries.
Arouri was also involved in reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the rival Palestinian political party Fatah.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday’s blast was sure to drag Lebanon into a new phase of conflict.
“This explosion undoubtedly aims to implicate Lebanon, serving as a clear response to our efforts to keep the specter of the ongoing war in Gaza away from Lebanon,” the National News Agency quoted Mikati as saying.
Transcript:
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A senior Hamas leader and six other members of its armed wing were killed in an explosion in Lebanon.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Lebanon blames Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the attack. It’s the first such killing after Israel vowed to target Hamas officials in other countries after the militant Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on Israel. And Lebanese leaders have warned that the assassination could open another front in the war on Gaza.
FADEL: NPR’s Jane Arraf joins us now to discuss this from Amman, Jordan. Hi, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So what do we know about what happened in Lebanon?
ARRAF: Well, according to the Lebanese government, an Israeli drone targeted an office building in a southern suburb of Beirut Tuesday. Hamas announced the explosion killed Saleh al-Arouri. He was deputy head of its political bureau and one of the founders of the organization’s military wing. That’s significant because it’s one thing to target Hamas leaders in Gaza, where war between Hamas and Israel has been raging for three months, but it’s another to launch attacks in the capital of another country. Israel and Hezbollah, that Iran-backed Lebanese militia, have been attacking each other across the Lebanese border since the start of the war in Gaza. But so far, they’ve stayed within a fairly limited zone around that border.
FADEL: Yeah. I mean, you mention this is really different to attack in a capital of another country. How have officials in Lebanon reacted to these killings?
ARRAF: Well, there’s a lot of worry. Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, has said the attack is aimed at opening a new phase in the conflict at the Lebanese border. And he’s asking the U.N. Security Council to condemn the breach of Lebanese sovereignty. We have to note that Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attack, as you mentioned.
FADEL: OK.
ARRAF: Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in an MSNBC interview that whoever did it was not targeting Lebanon or Hezbollah.
But the big danger is that Hezbollah will likely feel compelled to respond in some way. And if it does escalate, Iran, which backs Hezbollah, could get involved. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said in the past that any assassinations in Lebanon will incur retaliation. And he’s giving a speech this evening in Lebanon. That speech, to commemorate the U.S. killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad four years ago, happens on an already tense anniversary. But that might give us some picture of what’s ahead.
FADEL: OK. What more do we know about the senior Hamas leader, Arouri?
ARRAF: Well, he was 57 years old, a sheikh who studied Islamic jurisprudence in the West Bank. He spent years in Israeli jail. And he became one of the founders of the military wing of Hamas, which was established after the Palestinian uprising in 1987 against Israeli occupation. He was deported in Turkey. And in Lebanon, importantly, he was the main liaison with Hezbollah. He was also involved in negotiations in Doha over a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, which could complicate things.
FADEL: And very quickly – I mean, we talked a lot about Lebanon, but what’s been the reaction among Palestinians to this killing?
ARRAF: Lots of demonstrations in the West Bank and general strikes in several West Bank cities to protest. But the day is still young, and that killing really does raise tensions around the region.
FADEL: NPR’s Jane Arraf talking to us from Amman, Jordan. Thank you so much, Jane.
ARRAF: Thank you.
