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Hezbollah has vowed to respond to the Israeli assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of the Hamas Movement, outside the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on January 2.
Al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, according to officials from both Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
In a statement, Hamas mourned Arouri and confirmed the identities of five other members who were killed with him, including Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades commanders Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam al-Aqraa Abu Ammar. The movement called the attack a “cowardly assassination operation, carried out by the Zionist enemy, in a barbaric aggression and a heinous crime.”
Hezbollah later vowed in a statement of its own that the assassination of al-Arouri “will never pass without response and punishment,” asserting its fighters were at heightened readiness to retaliate.
“God almighty concluded the career of this great leader with the highest medals of honor and dignity, and he obtained the martyrdom that he had long sought and longed for,” Hezbollah said mourning al-Arouri.
The group also called the assassination “a serious assault on Lebanon, its people, its security and its sovereignty… and a dangerous development in the course of the war between the enemy and the axis of resistance.”
“The criminal enemy — which after ninety days of crime, killing and destruction was unable to subjugate Gaza — is resorting to a policy of assassination… of… whoever planned, carried out or supported the heroic al-Aqsa Flood Operation [October 7 attack on Israel],” Hezbollah said, highlighting the recent Israeli assassination of Razi Mossavi, a senior commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Syria.
Hezbollah stressed such assassinations will only further embolden and strengthen the resistance movement against Israel.
Israeli officials have declined to comment on the assassination of al-Arouri. However, unmanned United States officials told The New York Times and Washington Post that Israel was responsible.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign media spokesman Mark Regev later said that the strike only targeted Hamas officials, without claiming responsibility
“Whoever did this, it’s not an attack on the Lebanese state. It’s not an attack on the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Whoever did this, it’s an attack on Hamas, that’s very clear,” Regev told MSNBC, in an apparent attempt to calm down Hezbollah.
Still, Hezbollah announced ten separate attacks against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on January 2, three of which took place after the assassination of al-Arouri. Hebrew media reported that two soldiers were lightly wounded by an anti-tank guided missile that Hezbollah fighters fired at a military site near the settlements of al-Manara close to the border with Lebanon.
Following Hezbollah’s threat, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel was ready to deal with any development.
“The IDF is at a very high level of readiness, in all arenas, in defense and offense. We are in a high state of readiness for any scenario,” Hagari said during a press conference.“The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and remain focused on fighting Hamas.”
Israel has vowed to target all Hamas leaders after the October 7 attack from the Gaza Strip, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage.
Last August, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon. The leader will give a pre-scheduled speech on January 3.
Hezbollah and its allies, including Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions, have been launching attacks against the IDF from southern Lebanon since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
So far, the clashes on the border have resulted in four civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of nine IDF soldiers. On the Lebanese side, more than 150 have been killed. The toll includes 129 Hezbollah members, 14 of whom were killed in Syria, 24 Palestinians, at least 19 civilians and three journalists.
