From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Hezbollah: Israeli killing of Arouri will not pass without a response
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Hezbollah vows to respond to the alleged Israeli killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri outside of Beirut earlier this evening.
“We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment,” the Lebanese terror group says in a statement, claiming its fighters are at heightened readiness in order 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 says of Arouri.
The terror group calls the alleged Israeli strike “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” Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, Hezbollah says, highlighting the recent alleged Israeli killing of senior IRGC official Razi Mossavi in Syria last week.
Hezbollah claims such assassinations will only further embolden the Palestinian resistance movement.
