Saleh al-Arouri and six other Hamas officials and executives were killed Tuesday evening in a strike attributed to Israel against an office of the Palestinian terrorist movement. The leader of pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon said Friday that a response was “inevitable.”
The leader of pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon said Friday that a response to the Israeli strike on his stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut which killed Hamas’ number two was “inevitable” on “the battlefield”. The strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut “is serious and will not go unanswered”, warned Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech, assuring that his movement would “respond” on “the battlefield”.
“The response is inevitable,” said the leader of Hezbollah, whose movement launches daily attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon. Saleh al-Arouri and six other Hamas officials and executives were killed Tuesday evening in a strike attributed to Israel against an office of the terrorist movement, an ally of Hezbollah. In a first speech the day after the strike, Hassan Nasrallah assured that the assassination “would not go unpunished”, without further details.
Washington had confirmed that it was indeed an “Israeli strike”
Tuesday’s strike is the first since October 7 on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital. Israel, which did not claim it, was immediately singled out by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government. An American Defense official also indicated that it was indeed an “Israeli strike”.
“We cannot remain silent about a violation of this magnitude, because it would mean that all of Lebanon would be exposed” in the future, stressed Hassan Nasrallah. “Our fighters from all border areas (…) will respond to this dangerous violation,” he added. Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which claims to act in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, are limited to border areas in southern Lebanon.