Hamas leader Saleh Aruri assassinated in Beirut

from Mondoweiss

At least six people have been killed in an alleged Israeli drone strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday evening, including senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri.

Initial reports by Lebanese state media said that “four people were martyred and a number of others injured when the Hamas office was targeted” in the Mashrafiyah neighborhood of the southern Beirut suburb of al-Dahiya, an area where both Hezbollah and Palestinian groups operate out of. Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen later reported that the death toll had climbed to six, while sources told Mondoweiss that the toll had reached seven.

Reuters and Lebanese media reported that the strike was carried out by Israel. The Israeli government and military have yet to officially confirm any involvement in the assassination. 

Reports indicated that the primary target of the strike was 57-year-old Saleh al-Aruri, the deputy chairman of Hamas’ political bureau, and a founding commander of the movement’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Though Hamas has yet to confirm the identities of the other six killed in the strike, sources told Mondoweiss that among them were Samir Abu Amer, a top Hamas military leader in Lebanon, and Abu Ahmad al-Aqraa, a senior Hamas military leader in charge of West Bank operations. 

The strike took place around 5:30 p.m. local time. Sources told Mondoweiss that initial evidence seemed to indicate that two high-precision missiles were fired toward a building in the neighborhood, reported to be the Hamas offices. One was fired at an apartment, and the second at a vehicle on the street, alleged to have belonged to Aruri. According to Al Jazeera, Lebanese civil defense crews were still fighting flames caused by the strike more than an hour later...

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