Senior Hamas official reportedly killed in targeted Israeli strike in Beirut

People gather near a damaged site following an explosion at the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon January 2, 2024. (Reuters)
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  • Lebanon’s state news agency said four people were killed in the attack which it said was an Israeli drone strike
  • Senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri was killed in the incident, Hezbollah’s Manar television station reported

BEIRUT: An Israeli drone struck a Hamas office in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Tuesday, killing four people, Lebanon’s state news agency reported.
Senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri was killed in the incident, Al-Manar television station of Hezbollah reported.




An undated file photo of Saleh Al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader, who was killed after an Israeli drone struck a Hamas office in Beirut, Lebanon on January 2, 2023. (AFP)

Al-Manar also said an explosion was heard near the Hadi Nasrallah highway close to a road junction.
It gave no details of the explosion, which comes a day before a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

A Reuters witness said the explosion may have been caused by a drone that hit the second floor of a building in the crowded neighborhood.
Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon’s southern frontier since the eruption of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza in early October.
Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nearly two dozen civilians, including children, elderly and several journalists, according to Hezbollah and security sources.