Thousands of people took to the streets of Beirut on Thursday for the funeral of top Hamas commander Saleh Arouri, who was killed earlier this week in an apparent Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Lebanese capital.
Draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags, Arouri’s coffin and those of two of his comrades were first taken to a Beirut mosque for prayers before being carried to the Palestine Martyrs Cemetery where top Palestinian officials killed by Israel over the hast five decades are buried.
Arouri’s automatic rifle was placed on his coffin at the prayer service.
The funeral was attended by Palestinian officials, including top Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, as well as representatives of some Lebanese political groups.
People tried to touch the coffins that were surrounded by Hamas members wearing green caps. Some of the Hamas members were armed.
“The enemy is running away from its failures and defeats (in Gaza) to Lebanon,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech aired during the funeral.
He added that the killing of Arouri in Beirut “is a proof of (Israel’s) bloody mentality”.
Lebanese officials and state media said an Israeli drone fired two missiles on Tuesday at an apartment in Beirut’s southern Musharafieh district that is a stronghold of Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group, instantly killing Arouri and six other Hamas members, including military commanders.
Arouri, who was the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, had been in Israel’s sights for years, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before Hamas carried out its deadly surprise attack on Israel on October 7th that triggered the ongoing brutal war in Gaza.
Israel had accused Arouri (57) of masterminding attacks against it in the West Bank, where he was the group’s top commander.
In 2015, the US Treasury Department name Arouri a specially designated global terrorist, offering $5 million for information about him.
Arouri’s killing raises tensions in the already volatile Middle East with Israel’s ongoing ground offensive in Gaza, daily exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking ships passing through the Red Sea.
