There was an explosion in the suburbs of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on Tuesday evening. It was most obviously an Israeli drone strike, which killed a member of the leadership of the Hamas organization Saleh al-Arourin.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas.
Al-Arour was considered the top military commander of the terrorist organization Hamas in the West Bank. According to Israel, Arouri was the main architect of Hamas attacks in the West Bank during his command.
Israel has said that its goal after the October terrorist attacks by Hamas is to destroy Hamas. This means especially the destruction of the organization’s management.
So who are Israel targeting? This is evident from a deck of cards printed by the Israeli army. Packs of 52 cards have been distributed to 10,000 Israeli soldiers in Gaza to identify Hamas leaders.
Some of those marked on the cards have already died. In Israel’s cards Saleh al-Arouri was a joker.
In this story, we introduce five other key people who appear on the cards.
Ismail Haniyeh, ace of squares
Ismail Haniyeh is one of the aces of the deck. He is widely regarded as the leader of the entire Hamas organization. He was elected to the political leadership in 2017.
Haniyeh was imprisoned by Israel during the first Palestinian uprising in 1989 for three years, after which he lived in exile.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas appointed Haniyeh as prime minister in 2006 when Hamas won the most seats in the elections. When Hamas violently suppressed Abbas’s Fatah party in Gaza a year later, Haniyeh was fired.
He became the leader of Hamas in 2017. The following year, the United States designated Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, as a terrorist.
Yahya Sinwar, Queen of Hearts
Hamas is in charge in Gaza Yahya Sinwar. Israel has arrested him several times.
Sinwar was one of over a thousand prisoners released by Israel in a prisoner swap to free an Israeli soldier held by Hamas By Gilad Shalit. Sinwar was serving a four-year prison sentence at the time.
Sinwar is considered one of the founders of the Hamas security service Majd. The violent Majd, among other things, investigates Palestinians who are considered to be Israel’s henchmen.
Sinwar is also on the US terrorist list.
Mohammed Deif, the joker
Mohammed Deif heads Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.
Deif is one of those whom Israel is most anxious to catch. One of the missions of the al-Qassam Brigade is to kidnap Israeli soldiers. It is also considered the perpetrator of the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Deif has been imprisoned by Israel before, but escaped in 2000 during the second Palestinian uprising.
Israel attempted to assassinate Deif in Gaza in 2014, but Deif’s wife and two of his children were killed in the attack.
Marwan Issa, godfather
Mohammed Deif’s right-hand man and deputy commander in the al-Qassam Brigade is Marwan Issa.
Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have managed to detain Issa over the years. Israel is known to have tried to assassinate him at least in 2006, 2014 and 2021, when his brother was killed in the attack.
Israel believes Issa is one of the masterminds behind Hamas attacks on Israel, including the October attacks.
Khalid Maš’al, Herttaä
Born in 1956 on the West Bank Khalid Mash’alia considered one of the founders of Hamas. He also currently lives in Qatar. He visited Gaza for the first time in his life only in 2012.
Mash’al was considered the leader of Hamas after Israel killed the organization’s then-leading duo by Sheikh Ahmad Yasin and by Abdel Aziz al-Rantis.
The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad tried to assassinate Mash’al by poisoning him in Jordan, but Jordan arrested the Mossad agents and, under US pressure, made Israel hand over the antidote to the poison.
Card decks in use before
Like Israel, the United States used a deck of cards in Iraq in 2003. The Americans’ cards featured the deposed leader of Iraq Saddam Hussein and pictures of members of his administration.
Saddam was the ace of spades.
followed a US military patrol in Baghdad on December 14, 2003, when the information about the capture of the “ace of spades” the night before was published. You can watch the situation in the video below.
In the wake of the Americans, as early as 2003, Israel and Hamas made a deck of cards out of each other’s leaders. Prime Minister of Israel at the time Ariel Sharon was the number one card in the Hamas deck, the joker.
Tuesday’s attack on Beirut has raised fears that the war in Gaza could easily escalate into a regional war. The intelligence agency Mossad has the Prime Minister’s permission to go after Hamas leaders outside of Gaza as well.
Israel may also try to kill the leaders of Hamas in Qatar, even if, according to some media reports, Israel promised Qatar to refrain from doing so in connection with the negotiations for the release of the hostages.
Sources: AP, Reuters
Other sources used for background: The New York Times, BBC, France24, Ynet, Ha’aretz, Al-Jazeera