The American network NBC News quoted sources confirming that Israel is behind the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), noting that Tel Aviv is planning to carry out a series of assassinations over several years.
The network reported on Saturday that Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the assassination of Al-Arouri, but this operation may be the first step in an assassination campaign in response to the attack of last October 7, in reference to the Al-Aqsa Flood operation launched by the Palestinian resistance against the occupation.
The network quoted Israeli officials as saying that the intelligence services formed a joint mission under the name “Indigo” to pursue Hamas leaders and cadres in several countries.
Al-Arouri was martyred – last Tuesday – along with 6 Hamas members, including two commanders in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, following an air strike that targeted the movement’s office in the southern suburb of Beirut.
Following his assassination, the Palestinian factions called in a joint statement to respond to Israel in all arenas and fronts, as they put it.
The head of the Israeli Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, spoke of government directives to pursue Hamas leaders everywhere.
In a recording broadcast by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority in early December, Bar said that the security services are seeking to eliminate Hamas “in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar. It may take a few years.”
Hamas responded by saying that such threats reflect “the political and field impasse that the occupation is experiencing, and represent a violation of the sovereignty of sisterly countries,” stressing that the threats do not frighten any of the movement’s leaders whose “blood and the blood of their families are mixed with the blood of the patient sons of the Palestinian people.”