Hamas deputy head Saleh Arouri killed in explosion in Beirut, Hezbollah says

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said that top Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb. Saleh Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing.

He also headed the group’s presence in the West Bank. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, Associated Press reported.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone after an explosion shook the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs.

Videos circulating widely on social media showed serious damage and fire after the explosion which came during more than two months of heavy exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border.

Earlier, Hezbollah said its fighters carried out several attacks along the Lebanon-Israel border targeting Israeli military posts.