Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri is reported dead after an Israeli attack in Lebanon

Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri is said to have been killed in an attack in southern Beirut.

According to the Lebanese news agency NNA, Israel is behind the attack.

– Israel does not take responsibility for the attack, but whoever carried out the attack targeted Hamas and not Lebanon, says Netanyahu’s advisor Mark Regev to MSNBC.

A Hamas location has been attacked by Israel in a suburb of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, according to state Lebanese media via Reuters.

The office is to be located near a popular patisserie in a suburb that is one of the strongest strongholds of Hamas-allied Hezbollah.

According to the Lebanese news agency NNA, at least six people have been killed in the drone attack, which they say Israel is behind. An American defense source tells the Washington Post that the IDF is behind Tuesday’s attack and that, from the American side, they are now investigating if al-Arouri died.

But Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Israel is not responsible for the attack, but whoever carried out the attack targeted Hamas and not the state of Lebanon, says Netanyahu’s advisor Mark Regev to MSNBC.

Hamas confirms the death

One of the dead in the attack is supposed to be Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri, according to Hezbollah’s television channel.

Hamas leader Dr. Basem Naim confirms to NBC that al-Arouri died in the attack and holds Israel responsible.

Two of Hamas’ top military ranks are also said to have died in the attack, reports say New York Times.

al-Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing and served as deputy head of its political bureau. He will too to have been responsible for Hamas’s military presence in the West Bank. Last year offered the United States five million dollars for information about him.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously threatened to kill al-Arouri before the start of the war.

Attacked several Israeli targets

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said it attacked several Israeli targets on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The Hezbollah militia, which is allied with Hamas, and Israel have repeatedly attacked each other across Lebanon’s southern border since the outbreak of war on October 7.