Hamas says senior leader killed in attack in southern Beirut

Originally Published: 02 JAN 24 12:33 ET Updated: 02 JAN 24 13:38 ET By Abeer Salman, Nada Bashir, Tamara Qiblawi and Tara John, CNN

(CNN) — Hamas said Tuesday that one of its senior leaders has been killed in an attack in the south of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Hamas media outlet Al Aqsa TV said Saleh Al Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, was “martyred in a treacherous Zionist airstrike in Beirut.”

Al Arouri was considered one of the founding members of the group’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and was based in Beirut.

At least four people were killed in the attack that targeted an office belonging to Hamas in the Beirut suburb of al-Mushrifiyyeh, Lebanese news agency NNA reported.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment when asked about the announcement but a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, praised the Israeli security and intelligence agencies for the “assassination” of Al Arouri.

“I congratulate the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the security forces for killing senior Hamas official (Saleh Al Arouri) in Beirut,” Danon said on X. “Anyone who was involved in the 7/10 massacre should know that we will reach out to them and close an account with them,” Danon added.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack and said the “explosion is a new Israeli crime” aimed at drawing Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation.

“We call on the concerned countries to put pressure on Israel to stop its targeting. We also warn against the Israeli political level resorting to exporting its failures in Gaza to the southern [Lebanese] border,” Mikati wrote on X.

“It has become clear to everyone near and far that the decision to go to war is in the hands of Israel, and what is required is to deter it and stop its aggression,” he added.

His death comes as Israel’s military begins to draw down the number of soldiers on the ground in Gaza as it looks to move to a new phase of its war on Hamas amid a spiraling civilian death toll in the besieged enclave.

Who is Saleh Al Arouri?

The prominent Hamas political and military leader was born in 1966 in the village of Aroura in the Ramallah district of the West Bank. He went on to play a role in founding the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in the West Bank, and is considered to be the mastermind behind arming the group.

He was a member of Hamas since 1987 and considered its leader in the West Bank prior to his death, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). He has been a member of Hamas Politburo since 2010 and was elected its deputy head in 2017, ECFR added.

Israel considers him one of the key founders of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the occupied West Bank and accused him of being behind the kidnapping of three settlers in Hebron, which led to the demolition of his house. He began establishing and organizing a military apparatus for the movement in the West Bank in 1991-1992, which contributed to the actual launch of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank in 1992.

He was arrested and spent about 15 years in Israeli prisons before being deported from the Palestinian territories.

He helped negotiate the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in 2011, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. He had been repeatedly detained by Israel, including for long periods between 1985-1992, and 1992-2007, according to ECHR.

In 2010, he was deported by Israel to Syria, living there for three years before living in Turkey and traveling to several countries, including Qatar and Malaysia. He finally settled in the southern suburbs of Lebanon. He was married with two daughters and lived in Lebanon at the time of his death.

The Israeli army demolished Al Arouri’s house in Aroura in October.

The IDF said at the time that forces “operated in the town” to “demolish the residence of Saleh Al Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas terrorist organization’s political bureau and in charge of the Hamas’ activities in Judea and Samaria.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.