Who is Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri killed last night in Beirut?

(Patria) - Saleh al-Arouri was one of the highest figures in Hamas's hierarchy, a leading figure on both the political and military fronts, BBC reports.

The 57-year-old was the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau and helped establish the group's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and remained deeply involved in the group's military affairs. He was killed in an explosion in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, and Israel is blamed for the attack.

Saleh al-Arouri joined Hamas in 1987 and helped establish the group's military presence in the occupied West Bank. He was one of Hamas's closest officials connected to Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He was imprisoned by Israel. After his release, he was a negotiator in a deal in which over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

On October 27 of this year, the Israeli army demolished his house in the West Bank town of Arura, near Ramallah. Arouri lived in Lebanon. Lebanese media reported that he was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, along with six others who were reportedly also Hamas members. It's not just about who was killed, but also where he was killed.

The killing of a senior Hamas official in Hezbollah's stronghold in Lebanon is sure to make things even more unstable in the region. Lebanon's interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati described the assassination as a new Israeli war crime aimed at drawing Lebanon into a new phase of conflict.

Hezbollah called the attack a "serious attack on Lebanon, its people, its security, its sovereignty" and warned that "this crime will never pass without a response and punishment".
Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's political bureau, called it a "cowardly assassination by the Zionist occupation".

The Israeli army did not comment, telling the BBC it does not respond to foreign media reports.