Smoke rises from a destroyed apartment following a large
explosion in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday. The TV station of Lebanon's Hezbollah group says top Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb. Hussein Malla/AP hide caption Smoke rises from a destroyed apartment following a large explosion in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday. The TV station of Lebanon's Hezbollah group says top Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb. AMMAN, Jordan — A senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has been killed in what it believes to be an
Israeli airstrike in Lebanon's capital of Beirut, according to Hamas media networks. Saleh Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas'
MILITARY wing and a deputy chief of the group's political bureau. If his killing by Israel is confirmed, it would be the country's first assassination of a top Hamas official since the start of the war in
Gaza in October. Hamas' Al-Aqsa television channel announced the killing Tuesday in what it called a "Zionist strike." Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said an alleged Israeli drone strike caused an explosion in one of Beirut's southern suburbs, killing four people. Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack . Israeli leaders vowed after Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel that they would assassinate leaders of the organization in any country they found them. Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militia, backed by
Iran, said if Israel did kill Hamas leaders, it would retaliate. Hezbollah and Israel have so far been attacking each other near the Israel-Lebanon border since the war in Gaza began. Other militant Palestinian factions said they would respond with full force to Tuesday's reported assassination of Arouri. In this photo released by the Hamas Media Office, Ismail Haniyeh (right), the head of the Hamas political bureau, shakes hands with his deputy, Saleh Arouri, upon his arrival in Gaza City from Cairo, on Aug. 2, 2018. A TV station of Lebanon's Hezbollah group says Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb. Mohammad Austaz/Hamas Media Office via AP hide caption In this photo released by the Hamas Media Office, Ismail Haniyeh (right), the head of the Hamas political bureau, shakes hands with his deputy, Saleh Arouri, upon his arrival in Gaza City from Cairo, on Aug. 2, 2018. A TV station of Lebanon's Hezbollah group says Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb. Arouri was jailed by Israel and deported to
Turkey after being released in 2010. In Beirut, he served as a liaison between Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as with Turkey and other countries. Arouri was also involved in reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the rival Palestinian political party, Fatah. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday's blast was sure to drag
Lebanon into a new phase of conflict. "This explosion undoubtedly aims to implicate Lebanon, serving as a clear response to our efforts to keep the specter of the ongoing war in Gaza away from Lebanon," the National News Agency quoted Mikati as saying. The Lebanese prime minister asked his foreign minister to relay an urgent complaint to the
United Nations Security Council over the explosion, which he said was a breach of Lebanese sovereignty.