Following the assassination of Hamas deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, the Chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said the targeted killing of Arouri in Beirut will not go unpunished.
Reuters confirmed Arouri, 57, who resided in Beirut, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated outside Palestinian territories since Israel began its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group in response to its deadly rampage from Gaza into Israeli towns on Oct. 7.
In a televised speech on Wednesday, Nasrallah blamed Israel for the attack and warned that his heavily armed forces would fight to the finish if Israel takes full war with Lebanon. Nasrallah vowed that his powerful Iran-backed Shi'ite militia "cannot be silent" in the wake of al-Arouri's killing, which he called "a major dangerous crime", though he made no concrete threats of action against Israel. "Whoever thinks of war with us, in one word, he will regret it. If war is launched against Lebanon, then Lebanon's national interests require that we take the war to the end," said Nasrallah.
According to an Al-Jazeera article, Tuesday's strike hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, known for being a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari did not directly comment on al-Arouri's killing but said the military was "highly prepared for any scenario" in its aftermath. However, Al-Jazeera went on to report that on Wednesday, the chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service vowed that the agency would hunt down every Hamas leader involved in the attack that took place on the 7th of October, no matter where they are.
The attack that killed Arouri was the first in Beirut following exchanges of fire for months between Hezbollah and Israel. The strikes had previously been confined to Lebanon's southern border.
Some Background
Hezbollah and Israel last fought a major war in 2006. It essentially ended in a stalemate, however, analysts say Hezbollah has become a more formidable fighting force since with thousands of new and heavy weaponry along with other forms of ammunition. It was revealed in the aforemention Reuters article that, to date, more than 120 Hezbollah fighters and two dozen civilians have been killed on Lebanese territory, as well as at least nine Israeli soldiers in Israel.
BBC reported that US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller revealed on Wednesday that Washington was not given advance notice of the strike in Beirut that killed Arouri. The report went on to say that a spokesperson for the UN's Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has "urged all parties to show restraint", going on to advise that "a wider conflict would have devastating consequences for both Israel and Lebanon".
Meanwhile, amidst the rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon, the fighting in Gaza continues. The UN confirmed on Tuesday five people were killed in an attack on the Palestinian Red Crescent building in the southern city of Khan Younis. The total recorded Palestinian death toll, as reported from the Reuters article, from Israel's offensive had reached 22,313 by Wednesday, 128 of them in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said.
