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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemns 'dangerous' killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al Arouri

Hassan Nasrallah has vowed that Hezbollah "will not be silent" after Saleh al Arouri was killed in a drone strike in southern Beirut on Tuesday, which he blamed on Israel.

Friday 5 January 2024 13:26, UK

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The leader of Hezbollah has condemned the "dangerous" killing of Hamas's deputy leader, and warned Israel there will be "no ceiling and no rules" if it wages war on Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah vowed his militant group "will not be silent" following the killing of Saleh al Arouri in a drone strike in southern Beirut yesterday.

Hezbollah, which - like Hamas - is backed by Iran, has claimed Israel was behind the attack.

But Israel has not confirmed or denied it carried it out, with a government adviser saying "whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership".

Hezbollah leader warns Israel in speech - live updates

Fears of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza growing into a wider conflict remain, and in a televised address, Nasrallah said "war with us will be very costly".

He added that anyone waging war against Lebanon "will regret it" as Hezbollah will fight "until the end".

Nasrallah offered his condolences to Hamas for what he called a "flagrant Israeli aggression" on Tuesday night that killed al Arouri.

A large response from Hezbollah is unlikely - but the Middle East is an unpredictable place

By Nicole Johnson, Sky News correspondent in Israel

The Middle East is holding its breath, waiting to see how Hezbollah will respond to the assassination of Hamas leader, Salah al Arouri, in Hezbollah's own Beirut backyard.

But Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, did not give much away during his speech in Beirut. It was only the third address he's given since the war in Gaza started. Part two of the speech is on Friday.

Nasrallah emphasised that while the group doesn't "fear war" it was taking Lebanon's "national interest" into account, by maintaining a "calculated" battle on its front with Lebanon.

He circled through all the threats and fronts Israel is facing from what Iran calls its "axis of resistance".

The Hezbollah leader said all these Iranian backed non-state actors are carrying out their attacks independently, they are not "lackies or tools".

With Lebanon in the grip of a severe economic collapse, it鈥檚 not in Hezbollah鈥榮 interest to bring war to the streets of Beirut.

Taking into account Nasrallah鈥檚 speech and Lebanon鈥檚 dire position, it is unlikely we will see a response from Hezbollah that鈥檚 large enough to warrant Israel launching all-out war on Lebanon.

But the Middle East is an unpredictable place, and this period of war in Gaza is unprecedented, so anything could happen.

It was the first strike to hit Lebanon's capital following nearly three months of almost daily clashes between the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah which have been confined to the border region.

Nasrallah's comments came before a local Hezbollah leader was killed in a strike in southern Lebanon, Sky News has been told.

The official has been named as Hussein Yazbek. The strike hit Naqoura, with reports suggesting three or four people were killed.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the strike.

Hezbollah's support for Hamas

Hezbollah launched rockets across the border towards Israel on 8 October in support of Hamas.

A day earlier, Hamas had carried out a deadly assault in southern Israel that prompted a fierce Israeli bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip.

Nasrallah claims his group's "quick" actions on 8 October, and the cross-border shelling since then, had stopped a broader aerial bombardment of Lebanon by Israel.

Al Arouri, 57, is the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated since the IDF began its offensive against the Palestinian militant group in response to its 7 October border assault.

Speaking to MSNBC, Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described yesterday's drone attack as a "surgical strike against the Hamas leadership" and not an attack on the Lebanese state or Hezbollah.

Read more:
Who is Saleh al Arouri?
UN agency claims aid convoy was hit by Israeli gunfire

Al Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas's military wing and the deputy leader of the group's political bureau. He also headed Hamas's presence in the West Bank.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the blast in Beirut's Dahiyeh suburb killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone.

Hamas's Al Aqsa TV said commanders of the group's armed wing in Lebanon - Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam al Aqraa Abu Ammar - were among the dead.

Izzat al Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, said al Arouri was killed in a "cowardly assassination" by Israel - and warned such attacks "will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people, or undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance".

He added: "It proves once again the abject failure of this enemy to achieve any of its aggressive goals in the Gaza Strip."

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