Hezbollah leader Nasrallah condemns ‘flagrant Israeli attack’ that killed senior Hamas official
Killing of Hamas official unlikely to alter strategy of Lebanese militia or its Iranian backers, analysts say
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah yesterday condemned the “flagrant Israeli attack” that killed a senior Hamas official in Beirut, amid fears the strike could escalate the Israel-Gaza war into a wider regional conflict.
Saleh Al Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau, was killed by a drone strike on Tuesday.
This was widely attributed to Israel and would be the first attack by Israeli forces on the Lebanese capital since 2006.
In a televised address yesterday, Mr Nasrallah offered his condolences for the death of Mr Al Arouri in a “flagrant Israeli attack on the southern suburb of Beirut”.
“This serious crime will not remain unanswered and unpunished,” he said, adding that war with Lebanon would be “very costly”.
He did not specify how or whether Hezbollah would respond to the attack, but said he would deliver a second speech tomorrow.
Hezbollah’s conflict with Israel has so far been limited to border exchanges between the Iran-backed group and its allies with Israeli forces.
Mr Nasrallah previously said that targeted assassinations by Israel in Lebanon would “not be tolerated”.
Hamas, a strategic ally of Hezbollah, vowed to take revenge against Israel, condemning the attack as an “act of complete terrorism and a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
In addition to Mr Al Arouri, the most senior Hamas official to be killed since the group’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, two other Hamas leaders also died in the strike.
The last time Israel struck Beirut was during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in which more than 1,000 people were killed.
Residents in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold where the attack on the Hamas office took place, said they were expecting a strong response.
“We are afraid of war, but when your land keeps coming under attack, we need a strong response,” said the owner of a restaurant near the strike site. “We cannot lose our dignity.”
More than 160 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting broke out in October. Most of the dead are militants, but at least 19 civilians have also been killed.
On the Israeli side, the death toll stands at nine soldiers and five civilians.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon said it was concerned about potential escalation.
“We continue to implore all parties to cease fire and … urge restraint,” spokeswoman Kandice Ardiel said.
Analysts suggested the relative restraint shown by Hezbollah may have emboldened Israel to decide to risk escalation by killing Mr Al Arouri.
“The government of Israel recognises Iran’s strategy and its limitations,” said Imad Salamey, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
Tehran condemned the attack as a “terrorist operation” and said it would ignite resistance.
Israel is hoping the assassination of senior Hamas official Saleh Al Arouri in Beirut will not lead to a major escalation in its clashes with Hezbollah and Iran, analysts told The National.
The drone strike that killed Mr Al Arouri, who was deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau, is considered to be significant breach of the informal rules of engagement between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel may have felt emboldened to carry out the strike – its first in Beirut since 2006 – by the relative restraint shown by Hezbollah and Iran since the outbreak of cross-border fighting between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed group on October 8.
“The government of Israel recognises Iran’s strategy and its limitations,” said Imad Salamey, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
“Therefore, Israel is more willing to escalate in terms of confrontation, because they know it’s unlikely to lead to an open confrontation – either on the [Lebanese] front or in the region.”
Iran’s proxies, including Hezbollah, have rallied in support of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, since the group attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 240.
The attack prompted Israel to launch a military operation in Gaza, which so far has killed more than 22,300 people, health officials in the coastal enclave said.
Throughout the war in Gaza, Hezbollah has waged a contained border conflict with the stated aim of deterring Israel from its operation in the besieged strip.
The conflict in Lebanon has so far claimed more than 160 lives, mostly Hezbollah and allied fighters, but also at least 19 civilians. On the Israeli side, the death toll stands at nine soldiers and five civilians.
The militia has stopped short of initiating a full-scale war, as have other proxies of Tehran, such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah.
But Israel’s decision to hit Beirut has put Hezbollah in a difficult position after its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, warned last year that any Israeli assassinations in Lebanon would “exact a price you can’t even imagine”.
Despite Mr Nasrallah’s rhetoric, Hezbollah has so far shown little desire to escalate the conflict. Neither the deaths of its fighters, nor those of civilians have been enough to elicit a strong response.
It remains to be seen how Hezbollah – and Iran – will retaliate to the attack in Beirut.
On Tuesday evening, the militia called the killing of Mr
Al Arouri “a serious assault on Lebanon, its people, its security, its sovereignty, and its resistance” and promised the “crimes will not pass without response and punishment”.
Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, a Beirut-based think tank, said Mr Al Arouri’s assassination was a significant and “direct strike against the first brass of Hamas”.
“But the Iranian strategy is to play a secondary support role in this conflict,” he added. “It would be difficult to see them turn this into a major war between Hezbollah and Israel.”
Still, he said, Iran and its proxies will “try to calibrate the response to save face”.
A veteran Palestinian official in Gaza told The National that Israel was “edging towards a bigger war with Hezbollah and telling the US it is not afraid to expand the war, even without Washington standing by its side”.
“It is logical to assume that this gamble is very dangerous and has many consequences,” the official added
Prof Salamey said: “Israel recognises that Iran doesn’t want regional war, nor does it want an open confrontation on any of its fronts where allies exist.
“Instead, it wants to maintain asymmetrical long-term warfare where Iran can negotiate political concessions” through its proxies.