Illustrative image.
Hezbollah has vowed to respond to the Israeli assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of the Hamas Movement, outside the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on January 2.
Al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, according to officials from both Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
In a statement, Hamas mourned Arouri and confirmed the identities of five other members who were killed with him, including Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades commanders Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam al-Aqraa Abu Ammar. The movement called the attack a “cowardly assassination operation, carried out by the Zionist enemy, in a barbaric aggression and a heinous crime.”
Hezbollah later vowed in a statement of its own that the assassination of al-Arouri “will never pass without response and punishment,” asserting its fighters were at heightened readiness to retaliate.
“God almighty concluded the career of this great leader with the highest medals of honor and dignity, and he obtained the martyrdom that he had long sought and longed for,” Hezbollah said mourning al-Arouri.
The group also called the assassination “a serious assault on Lebanon, its people, its security and its sovereignty… and a dangerous development in the course of the war between the enemy and the axis of resistance.”
“The criminal enemy — which after ninety days of crime, killing and destruction was unable to subjugate Gaza — is resorting to a policy of assassination… of… whoever planned, carried out or supported the heroic al-Aqsa Flood Operation [October 7 attack on Israel],” Hezbollah said, highlighting the recent Israeli assassination of Razi Mossavi, a senior commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Syria.
Hezbollah stressed such assassinations will only further embolden and strengthen the resistance movement against Israel.
Israeli officials have declined to comment on the assassination of al-Arouri. However, unmanned United States officials told The New York Times and Washington Post that Israel was responsible.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign media spokesman Mark Regev later said that the strike only targeted Hamas officials, without claiming responsibility
“Whoever did this, it’s not an attack on the Lebanese state. It’s not an attack on the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Whoever did this, it’s an attack on Hamas, that’s very clear,” Regev told MSNBC, in an apparent attempt to calm down Hezbollah.
Still, Hezbollah announced ten separate attacks against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on January 2, three of which took place after the assassination of al-Arouri. Hebrew media reported that two soldiers were lightly wounded by an anti-tank guided missile that Hezbollah fighters fired at a military site near the settlements of al-Manara close to the border with Lebanon.
Following Hezbollah’s threat, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel was ready to deal with any development.
“The IDF is at a very high level of readiness, in all arenas, in defense and offense. We are in a high state of readiness for any scenario,” Hagari said during a press conference.“The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and remain focused on fighting Hamas.”
Israel has vowed to target all Hamas leaders after the October 7 attack from the Gaza Strip, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage.
Last August, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon. The leader will give a pre-scheduled speech on January 3.
Hezbollah and its allies, including Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions, have been launching attacks against the IDF from southern Lebanon since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
So far, the clashes on the border have resulted in four civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of nine IDF soldiers. On the Lebanese side, more than 150 have been killed. The toll includes 129 Hezbollah members, 14 of whom were killed in Syria, 24 Palestinians, at least 19 civilians and three journalists.
the zionazi abomination in apartheid, occupied palestine must be destroyed for peace ever to come to the region. the rest of humanity celebrates the ongoing collapse of the evil anglozionazi empire of filth and prays that ussan tax cattle can finally flush the washing town sewer of the zionist plague. may 2024 be the year that the iou fiat filth dollah collaps€$ and the welfare warfare scum in pentacon. z
2024 is also the start of rat hunting season – the identification and killing of rats hiding under sewage canals of gaza and rabbit hunting season across the land of syria and lebanon. good hunting.
it seems really israel starts these desperately tactics of assasinations because they can’t win the usual way, confirmation they start losing.
eliminate the threat from its head first. fast. efficient. cost effective. just like how to kill a colony of termites.
wasn’t another article from south-front, just posted like a day ago, where it said iran vows revenge? my point is that iranian leaders have been getting killed left and right by israel for a long time now, with israel even striking targets deep inside iran itself! if the iranians were going to do something they would have by now! oh i think the last article was titled: israel awaits iran’s revenge. literally isreal just got finished killing a top iranian leader and now they did it again
true, but israel is desperate for iran to do this. they want it, to draw in help. iran will not fall for it. we all want to see the israelis get their due, no doubt. but this is hamas and hezbollahs war and they will decide when the time is right. hamas showed what can happen went they pick the time and place. the world awaits israels departure with baited breath, it cannot happen soon enough.
why retaliate immediately when your enemy is at heightened readiness? ever heard of sun tzu?
netan-yahoo is wrong. al-arouri was under the official protection of lebanon. he was a resident. and even if not, such an assassination constitutes an act of (aggressive) war under international law. bibi lies about lebanon, bc now israel is (and actually has been) officially at war with lebanon. “not against hezbollah” is a feeble attempt to avert retribution by the aformentioned entity; betraying his fear. in arabic they say: سَعى إلى حَتْفِهِ بِظِلْفِهِ
he was a terrorist/murderer and was under no ones protection, lebanon or any other
sad to say it, but at least hezbollah and iran indeed look weak this time. they allow their highest commanders to be killed – and that not in gaza but in lebanon, syria and sometimes even inside iran. why does libanon and iran not mobilze their mio of followers inside europe and uk to wage havoc on the police and israel-supporting forces inside these countries ?
as asymmetric answer, they could at lest ask
..these mio of pro-hamas, pro-hezbollah people in europe to dosome nice bus bombings, or a train with eu or us military personal on it– sinking passenger ships – torching down hundreds of petrol stations or police headquarters, storming eu & uk military depots etc. lighting up synagoges whatever..everything possible – but what are hezb and iran doing ? nothing ! very sad !
well we all know what happens when one faction starts assassinating another. it is never a one-way street.
hagari is a liar. if hezbollah is to have any regard by the west, they should respond in kind. they should target nutsack, gant, et al, with a missile or two. preferably when they are present in the knesset. if there is no massive retaliation, israel will not only continue, but be encouraged to increase the only tactic they have that is effective at targeting hezbollah and hamas. hezbollah should strike israeli officials now.
israel seeks to enlarge this conflict, it is their only hope. the us and the corrupted west cannot save them, although they will try. as israel is fond of saying, cut off the head…yes, by all means necessary do so hezbollah. even israelis will be thankful that nutsack is gone. but make sure you get his entire cabinet if possible, they are all sick deviants of war and should reap their reward. f israel.
absolute correct what you state. as long as hezb & iran just vow to retaliate it is even worse for them, as they soon are seen as loud-mouth helpness victims and pussies – which nobody will to serious. they could do lots of things in retaliation to israel.
starting from sending large amounts of heavy missiles into israel (scud style) hitting knesset or dimona reactor, or storming and liberating the golan hights, to unleashing havoc on all european states that are supporting israel – by simple encouraging the muslim-asylumseekers inside europe to wage havoc on all pro-israel governemnt etc. buildings, companies and structures – but instead nothing happens. very sad !
just exterminate a few hundred kike roaches and stop talking about it.
you mean hamas cockroaches?
the luciferian elite wants iran to respond. (the thesis,) “violence” inevitably brings forth its opposite antithesis: the response (revenge ). from that interaction, a third state emerges in which the opposites are integrated, fulfilled in a synthesis (chaos) which will be armageddon. that war will bring in a new age. were the luciferians will usher in their final solution.