Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh slams 'craven assassination' of Saleh al-Arouri

The head of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haniyeh has slammed Israel’s “craven assassination” of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut on Tuesday. 

"The assassination of the leader al-Arouri and his brothers by the occupation is a fully-fledged terrorist act, a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and an expansion of its aggression,” Haniyeh said. 

Haniyeh confirmed Arouri’s death along with six other Hamas officials after what Lebanese media said was an Israeli drone strike on Arouri in a southern suburb of Beirut and Hezbollah stronghold. 

“All these assassinations and attacks will make us stronger and more determined than ever. This is the history of the resistance and our movement. We always become stronger and more determined,” Haniyeh said.

Underscoring the seriousness of the Beirut strike, Haniyeh compared Arouri’s death to the Israeli assassination of other senior Hamas leaders, including the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

“Just as these assassinations did not affect the march of the revolution and its escalation, the assassination of the martyr al-Arouri and his brothers will not affect the march of the revolution.”