Smoke rises from a destroyed house following a big explosion in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday. The TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says high Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Hussein Malla/AP

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Hussein Malla/AP

Smoke rises from a destroyed house following a big explosion in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday. The TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says high Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Hussein Malla/AP

AMMAN, Jordan — A senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has been killed in what it believes to be an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, in response to Hamas media networks.

Saleh Arouri was one of many founders of Hamas’ army wing and a deputy chief of the group’s political bureau.

Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack. But if later confirmed, it might be the nation’s first assassination of a high Hamas official because the begin of the warfare in Gaza in October.

Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV channel introduced the killing Tuesday in what it referred to as a “Zionist strike.” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency mentioned an alleged Israeli drone strike brought about an explosion in one in all Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing 4 individuals.

Israeli leaders vowed after Hamas’ lethal Oct. 7 assault on Israel that they might assassinate leaders of the group in any nation they discovered them.

Lebanon’s highly effective Hezbollah militia, backed by Iran, mentioned if Israel did kill Hamas leaders, it might retaliate.

Hezbollah and Israel have up to now been attacking one another close to the Israel-Lebanon border because the warfare in Gaza started.

Other militant Palestinian factions mentioned they might reply with full drive to Tuesday’s reported assassination of Arouri.

Ismail Haniyeh (proper), the pinnacle of Hamas’ political bureau, shakes arms together with his deputy, Saleh Arouri, upon his arrival in Gaza City from Cairo on Aug. 2, 2018. A TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Mohammad Austaz/Hamas Media Office through AP

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Mohammad Austaz/Hamas Media Office through AP

Ismail Haniyeh (proper), the pinnacle of Hamas’ political bureau, shakes arms together with his deputy, Saleh Arouri, upon his arrival in Gaza City from Cairo on Aug. 2, 2018. A TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Mohammad Austaz/Hamas Media Office through AP

Arouri had been jailed by Israel and was deported to Turkey after being launched in 2010. In Beirut, he served as a liaison between Hamas and Hezbollah, in addition to with Turkey and different international locations.

Arouri was additionally concerned in reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the rival Palestinian political get together Fatah.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday’s blast was positive to pull Lebanon into a brand new section of battle.

“This explosion undoubtedly aims to implicate Lebanon, serving as a clear response to our efforts to keep the specter of the ongoing war in Gaza away from Lebanon,” the National News Agency quoted Mikati as saying.