<article>
<div class="each-segment">
    <a id="segment-494586" name="segment-494586" class="segment-anchor"></a></p>
<div class="banner-wrap d-lg-block d-none">
</div>
<div class="segment-head">
<h2></h2>
</div>
<div class="segment-body">
<div class="text">
<div class="">
<p><i>Follow us on <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/saysdotcom/">Instagram</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@saysdotcom">TikTok</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VZzynzi6RGJG0QbRfy3O">WhatsApp</a> for the latest stories and breaking news.</i></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="each-segment">
    <a id="segment-494587" name="segment-494587" class="segment-anchor"></a></p>
<div class="banner-wrap d-lg-block d-none">
</div>
<div class="segment-head">
<h2>Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed on Tuesday night, 3 January, in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut&#8217;s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, a stronghold of the allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, signalling the conflict between Hamas and Israel could be expanding to engulf more of the region</h2>
</div>
<div class="segment-body">
<div class="text">
<div class="">
<p><p>In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said it does not respond to reports in the foreign media.</p>
<p>Lebanon&#8217;s national news agency said the drone struck a&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;office. Two security sources said the strike had targeted a meeting between&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;officials and Lebanon&#8217;s Sunni Islamist Jama&#8217;a Islamiya faction and left a total of four Palestinians and three Lebanese dead.</p>
<p>The strike marks the first targeted assassination of a&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;official outside Palestinian Territories since the Palestinian group&#8217;s deadly assault on Israeli territory on 7 October.</p>
<p>Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told MSNBC that Israel had not taken responsibility for this attack, but &#8220;whoever did it, it must be clear: That this was not an attack on the Lebanese state.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;leadership,&#8221; Regev said in the interview.</p>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="image">
<div class="">
<div class="single-image list-unstyled">
<div class="single-image-wrap">
                    <a href="https://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/1203739/ca95.JPG" target="" class="imgwrap colorbox-image cboxElement" title="Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri." rel="segment-810 noopener"><br />
                      <img decoding="async" class="source-img-1203739" alt="Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri." src="https://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/1203739/ca95.JPG"> </a>
                </div>
<p class="img-caption">Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri.</p>
<p>                <small class="img-credit">Image via <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/" rel="noopener">Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters</a></small>
            </div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<div class="each-segment">
    <a id="segment-494588" name="segment-494588" class="segment-anchor"></a></p>
<div class="banner-wrap d-lg-block d-none">
</div>
<div class="segment-head">
<h2>Arouri was deputy head of Hamas&#8217;s politburo and a founder of its military wing, the Qassam Brigades</h2>
</div>
<div class="segment-body">
<div class="text">
<div class="">
<p><p>He had spent time recently in both Lebanon and Qatar, which has mediated talks between&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;and Israel including on hostages&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;took in its 7 October assault. The US, which brands&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;a terrorist group, had last year offered USD5 million (RM23 million) for information on Arouri.</p>
<p>Hamas&nbsp;confirmed Arouri&#8217;s killing and said Qassam Brigade officials Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam Al-Aqraa Abu Ammar were also killed.</p>
<p>Hamas&nbsp;chief&nbsp;Ismail Haniyeh on Tuesday said Arouri&#8217;s killing is &#8220;terrorist act&#8221;, a violation of Lebanon&#8217;s sovereignty and an expansion of Israel&#8217;s hostility against Palestinians.</p>
<p>Islamic Jihad vowed revenge in a statement, saying, &#8220;This crime will not go unpunished and the resistance will continue until the occupation is removed.&#8221;</p>
<p>Iran said the killing would further galvanise the fight against Israel, while Yemen&#8217;s Houthi movement expressed condolences.</p>
<p>In Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, hundreds took to the streets to urge retaliation, shouting &#8220;Revenge, revenge, Qassam.&#8221;</p>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="image">
<div class="">
<div class="single-image list-unstyled">
<div class="single-image-wrap">
                    <a href="https://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/1203740/57f2.JPG" target="" class="imgwrap colorbox-image cboxElement" title="Palestinians taking part in a protest against the killing of senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank." rel="segment-810 noopener"><br />
                      <img decoding="async" class="source-img-1203740" alt="Palestinians taking part in a protest against the killing of senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank." src="https://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/1203740/57f2.JPG"> </a>
                </div>
<p class="img-caption">Palestinians taking part in a protest against the killing of senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.</p>
<p>                <small class="img-credit">Image via <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/" rel="noopener">Mohammed Torokman/Reuters</a></small>
            </div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<div class="each-segment">
    <a id="segment-494589" name="segment-494589" class="segment-anchor"></a></p>
<div class="banner-wrap d-lg-block d-none">
</div>
<div class="segment-head">
<h2>&#8220;New crime&#8221;</h2>
</div>
<div class="segment-body">
<div class="text">
<div class="">
<p><p>A Reuters witness in Dahiyeh saw firefighters and paramedics gathered around a multi-storey building with a gaping hole in what appeared to be the third floor. Limbs and other pieces of flesh could be seen on the roadside.</p>
<p>Lebanon&#8217;s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati called the strike a &#8220;new Israeli crime&#8221; and said it was an attempt to pull Lebanon into war. His office said he asked Lebanon&#8217;s foreign minister to file a complaint to the United Nations Security Council.</p>
<p>In a written statement, Hezbollah said the attack &#8220;will not go without a response or punishment&#8221;, adding that the resistance has &#8220;its finger on the trigger&#8221;. It announced an attack on Israeli forces across the border but did not specify whether it was in response to Arouri&#8217;s killing.</p>
<p>Hezbollah&nbsp;chief&nbsp;Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah plans an address on Wednesday, 4 January, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the killing of Iranian Quds Force&nbsp;chief&nbsp;Qassem Suleimani in a US drone strike on Baghdad.</p>
<p>In a televised speech in August, Nasrallah had cautioned Israel against carrying out any assassinations on Lebanese soil, vowing a &#8220;severe reaction.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hezbollah controls security in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh. In 2019, two Israeli drones crashed in the district.</p>
<p>Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel since&nbsp;Hamas&nbsp;carried out the 7 October attack, but the violence has mostly been limited to the border region between Lebanon and Israel.</p>
<p>Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nearly two dozen civilians since then, including children, elderly people, and several journalists.</p>
<p>Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage on 7 October. Israel has responded with a nearly three-month-old offensive in&nbsp;Hamas-run Gaza where Palestinian health officials say the death toll has surpassed 22,000.</p>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="image">
<div class="">
<div class="single-image list-unstyled">
<div class="single-image-wrap">
                    <a href="https://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/1203741/dbc4.png" target="" class="imgwrap colorbox-image cboxElement" title="The drone strike location in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Lebanon." rel="segment-810 noopener"><br />
                      <img decoding="async" class="source-img-1203741" alt="The drone strike location in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Lebanon." src="https://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/1203741/dbc4.png"> </a>
                </div>
<p class="img-caption">The drone strike location in Beirut&#8217;s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Lebanon.</p>
<p>                <small class="img-credit">Image via <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/" rel="noopener">Reuters</a></small>
            </div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<div class="each-segment">
    <a id="segment-494634" name="segment-494634" class="segment-anchor"></a></p>
<div class="banner-wrap d-lg-block d-none">
</div>
<div class="segment-head">
<h2>Learn more about the Israel-Hamas war on SAYS:</h2>
</div>
<div class="segment-body">
<div class="related-source source-related">
<div>
<div class="related-thumb" style="padding-bottom: 10px">
<div class="aspect-ratio-says" style="background-image: url(&quot;https://images.says.com/uploads/story/cover_image/66649/27a1.png&quot;);"><a href="https://says.com/my/news/netanyahu-hitler-erdogan" class="ga-curator-related">&nbsp;</a></div>
</div>
<div class="related-content">
<h6><a href="https://says.com/my/news/netanyahu-hitler-erdogan" class="ga-curator-related">Turkish President Calls Israel Prime Minister &#8220;Hitler&#8221; Over Gaza War</a></h6>
<p>&#8220;There is no difference between the actions of Netanyahu and Hitler,&#8221; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.</p>
</div>
<div class="related-content"><span class="meta-domain pull-left"><img decoding="async" src="https://says.com/favicon-16x16.png"></span><span class="meta-domain pull-right">Read the full story<i class="icon-angle-right"></i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="related-source source-related">
<div>
<div class="related-thumb" style="padding-bottom: 10px">
<div class="aspect-ratio-says" style="background-image: url(&quot;https://images.says.com/uploads/story/cover_image/66507/8299.jpg&quot;);"><a href="https://says.com/my/news/anwar-bans-zim-shipping-from-docking-at-malaysian-ports" class="ga-curator-related">&nbsp;</a></div>
</div>
<div class="related-content">
<h6><a href="https://says.com/my/news/anwar-bans-zim-shipping-from-docking-at-malaysian-ports" class="ga-curator-related">This Israeli Shipping Company Can No Longer Dock At Malaysian Ports</a></h6>
<p>The company&#8217;s ships have been allowed to dock in Malaysia since 2002.</p>
</div>
<div class="related-content"><span class="meta-domain pull-left"><img decoding="async" src="https://says.com/favicon-16x16.png"></span><span class="meta-domain pull-right">Read the full story<i class="icon-angle-right"></i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="related-source source-related">
<div>
<div class="related-thumb" style="padding-bottom: 10px">
<div class="aspect-ratio-says" style="background-image: url(&quot;https://images.says.com/uploads/story/cover_image/66376/fb1b.png&quot;);"><a href="https://says.com/my/sports/puma-stop-sponsoring-israel-national-football-team" class="ga-curator-related">&nbsp;</a></div>
</div>
<div class="related-content">
<h6><a href="https://says.com/my/sports/puma-stop-sponsoring-israel-national-football-team" class="ga-curator-related">Puma To Stop Sponsoring Israel&#8217;s National Football Team In 2024</a></h6>
<p>Puma claims that the plans are unrelated to the ongoing consumer boycotts against the company due to Israel&#8217;s war on Gaza.</p>
</div>
<div class="related-content"><span class="meta-domain pull-left"><img decoding="async" src="https://says.com/favicon-16x16.png"></span><span class="meta-domain pull-right">Read the full story<i class="icon-angle-right"></i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</article>


Israel Ignores No-Assassination Warning And Kills Hamas Deputy Chief In Lebanon With Drone