Posted on 01/03/2024 4:08:44 AM PST by FarCenter
Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israel kept bombing Gaza on Wednesday after the army warned it is ready for "any scenario" following a drone strike in Lebanon which killed the deputy leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, stoking fears of a regional escalation.
Although Israel did not claim the Beirut assassination on Tuesday evening, it was widely assumed to be behind the killing of Saleh al-Aruri, 57, the political number two of its enemy Hamas and one of the founders of the Islamist group's military wing.
After Aruri and six other militants were killed in the attack, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military was in a "very high state of readiness in all arenas" and "highly prepared for any scenario".
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Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the militant group's bloody October 7 attack and has launched a relentless military campaign in Gaza that has claimed over 22,000 lives, according to the territory's health ministry.
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Amid the almost three-month-old war, Israel has traded almost daily cross-border fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas, while so far avoiding a full-scale war.
Maha Yahya of think tank the Carnegie Middle East Center told AFP that Aruri's killing was "a significant escalation" but added: "I don't think Hezbollah will be willing to drag Lebanon into a major conflict at this particular moment and time given the situation regionally".
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian condemned the "cowardly" Beirut strike and said it proved that Israel "has not achieved any of its goals after weeks of war crimes, genocide and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine, despite the direct support of the White House".
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Will Hezbollah get Lebanon blasted to rubble? I don’t think they care.
Just how many “leaders” does Hamas have? I think Israel has killed a hundred of them so far.
He was ‘number two’ alright!
They’ll be ready only when all able bodied people have rifles and plenty of ammunition.
Smoke em all.
There’s this and then the bomb going off at the Soleimani gravesite. Looks like we’re all in sync. Oct. 7 reaction. That’s what it takes.
911 gave us our own Reichstag fire. This reaction is more direct. More to come? It’s 2024 and the whole year is gonna be awesome. Good start.
I am wondering if 2024 might be a year of chaos?
Killing terrorist leaders is a continual process. Various Israelis have said that it is not easy to drain the barrel of terrorists faster than it is refilled from the well of resentment. It has also been likened to mowing the grass — in a couple weeks you have to do it again.
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