The killing of a senior Hamas leader in the Lebanese capitol of Beirut this week shows how the war in Gaza could pose region-wide risks, according to CNN.
Per Reuters, an Israeli drone killed deputy Hamas chief Saleh Arouri in a Beirut suburb Tuesday. The area where Arouri, 57, was killed is a stronghold for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, and the attack signals that the “conflict between Hamas and Israel could be expanding to engulf more of the region,” according to Reuters.
Hezbollah responds
According to The Associated Press, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah seemed to be appealing to the Lebanese public when he said that Hezbollah must retaliate against Israel for the killing. Nasrallah’s statement risks “escalating the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.”
Despite calls to react, Nasrallah gave no specifics of “how or when the militants would act,” AP reported.
“ ... with Lebanon suffering a massive economic crisis, there is virtually no public support for any military confrontation,” BBC reported.
The Beirut attack
The drone attack in Beirut that killed seven people total was Israel’s first attack on Beirut since 2006, according to AP.
Back then, Hezbollah and Israel were in a month-long conflict, BBC reported.
Now, Arouri is the most senior Hamas officer to be killed by Israeli forces since the Oct. 7 attack, according to CNN.
Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has been confined to small areas for a awhile, CNN reported, but that could change after the assassination.
Arouri’s death also “comes as Israel’s military begins to draw down the number of soldiers on the ground in Gaza as it looks to move to a new phase of its war on Hamas amid a spiraling civilian death toll in the besieged enclave,” per CNN.