Hamas top leader Salah al-Arouri killed in Beirut blast

An Israeli drone strike has targeted the office of Hamas in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday evening killing senior Hamas commander Salah al-Arouri.

Salah al-Arouri was a Hamas official and the commander of the group’s military wing Al-Qassem Brigades.

Lebanese said others were injured in the attack, but the number of wounded is yet unknown.

Videos of the aftermath of the drone strike showed a bombed-out apartment building and cars on fire in the vicinity of the drone strike.

Tuesday’s drone strike marks the first time that Israel has targeted Lebanon’s capital city Beirut since the 2006 war.

The assassination is a marked escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been limited to the border regions of both countries so far. 

Israel has previously warned that it would target Hamas leaders abroad.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in tit-for-tat missile strikes since 7 October, with Hezbollah warning that it would respond with an eye-for-an-eye to Israel’s attacks.

Neither Israeli nor Hezbollah officials have yet commented on Tuesday’s attack.